Schistosome infections induce significant changes in the host biliary proteome.

Abstract

To identify the changes induced by the schistosome infection in bile protein composition, and therefore in bile function, we compared the proteome of the gallbladders collected from non-infected healthy mice and from mice infected with S. bovis during 4months. For this, gallbladders from both groups of mice were homogenized and these homogenates were fractionated by serial centrifugation and acrylamide gel electrophoresis. The proteins were in gel digested and analysed by LC-MS/MS for identification. The present work reports the first data on the proteome of the mouse gallbladder and provides a comprehensive catalogue of biliary proteins that may be of great use in other studies addressing biliary physiology and pathology. We observed that there were significant differences in the biliary proteome of mice infected and non-infected with S. bovis and that chronic schistosome infections may produce important physiological alterations in the bile function.