2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Mechanism of Central Nervous System Dysfunction in Toxoplasma gondii Infection

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24880006
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Basic veterinary science/Basic zootechnical science
Research Institution	Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine
Principal Investigator	TANAKA Sachi 帯広畜産大学, 原虫病研究センター, 研究員 (90633032)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	トキソプラズマ / 原虫感染症 / 中枢神経系
Research Abstract	Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that invades a wide range of vertebrate host cells. Chronic infections with T. gondii become established in the tissues of the central nervous system where the parasites may directly or indirectly modulate neuronal function. However, the mechanisms of T. gondii-induced neuronal disorder remain unclear. The objective of this study is to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuronal disorder during T. gondii infection. In this study, host gene expression in mouse brain following infection with T. gondii was analyzed by RNA-seq. As a result, the up-regulated genes were primarily involved in host immune responses and cell activation. In contrast, genes that had a negative correlation with parasite numbers were predicted to be involved in neurological function. In addition, primary culture system of murine microglia was established, and cytokines and nitric oxide were produced in microglia against T. gondii infection.