Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii can infect almost all warm-blooded vertebrates with pathogensis being largely influenced by the host immune status. As important epidemiological hosts, rodents are globally distributed and are also commonly found infected with haemoflagellates, such as those in the genus Trypanosoma. We here address whether and how co-infection with trypanosomes can influence T. gondii infection in laboratory models. Rats of five strains, co-infected with T. lewisi and mice of four strains, co-infected with T. musculi, were found to be more or less susceptible to T. gondii infection, respectively, with corresponding increased or decreased brain cyst burdens. Downregulation of iNOS expression and decreased NO production or reverse were observed in the peritoneal macrophages of rats or mice, infected with trypanosomes, respectively. Trypanosoma lewisi and T. musculi can modulate host immune responses, either by enhancement or suppression and influence the outcome of Toxoplasma infection.
Highlights
It isn’t uncommon that a host is infected with two or more species of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and parasites
Survival in animals co-infected with T. gondii and T. musculi/T. lewisi is associated with splenomegaly As shown in supplementary table 1, rats are high resistant to T. gondii infection, as all showed zero mortality
Considering the parasitemia, T. lewisi could survive in the blood for more than 40 days in four strains of rats (BN, Fischer 344 (F344), SD, WST) (Supplementary figure 1), the LEW strain rats were so resistant to T. lewisi that no parasitemia was observed
Summary
It isn’t uncommon that a host is infected with two or more species of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and parasites. In fetus, newborns and immunocompromised patients, T. gondii infection will develop into potentially life-threatening toxoplasmosis (Montoya and Liesenfeld, 2016), which reflects the nature of toxoplasmosis that its outcome is largely influenced by host immune status. Extensive studies have been carried out, using animal models to discover the progression of Toxoplasma infection and factors influencing the host-parasite relationship. There are significant differences between animal models in the laboratory and natural infections found in wild animals (Beura et al, 2016) including differences in environment and in immune status. Understanding the immune responses in relation to co-infection of T. gondii with other pathogens, has great potential to be both interesting and relevant in nature (Catarinella et al, 1998; Onah and Wakelin, 1999)
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