Infection and characterization of Toxoplasma gondii in human induced neurons from patients with brain disorders and healthy controls

Microbes Infect. 2015 Sep 30. pii: S1286-4579(15)00207-5. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2015.09.023. [Epub ahead of print]

 

Passeri E¹, Jones-Brando L², Bordón C², Sengupta S¹, Wilson AM¹, Primerano A¹, Rapoport JL³, Ishikuza K¹, Kano SI¹, Yolken RH⁴, Sawa A⁵.

 

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite capable of establishing persistent infection within the brain. Serological studies in humans have linked exposure to Toxoplasma to neuropsychiatric disorders. However, serological studies have not elucidated the related molecular mechanisms within neuronal cells. To address this question, we used human induced neuronal cells derived from peripheral fibroblasts of healthy individuals and patients with genetically-defined brain disorders (i.e. childhood-onset schizophrenia with disease-associated copy number variations). Parasite infection was characterized by differential detection of tachyzoites and tissue cysts in induced neuronal cells. This approach may aid study of molecular mechanisms underlying individual predisposition to Toxoplasma infection linked to neuropathology of brain disorders.
Copyright © 2015 Institut Pasteur. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Toxoplasma gondii; brain disorders; cysts; induced neuronal cells; schizophrenia; tachyzoites

PMID:

26432947

[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]