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Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella are two common parasites in poultry. Mixed infections are likely to occur frequently in chickens due to the high prevalence of both pathogens. In this study, we investigate the co-occurrence of the two pathogens in the same immunocompetent host cell...

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Autores principales: Zhang, Runhui, Thabet, Ahmed, Hiob, Lysanne, Zheng, Wanpeng, Daugschies, Arwid, Bangoura, Berit
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6080511/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30081942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3040-0
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author Zhang, Runhui
Thabet, Ahmed
Hiob, Lysanne
Zheng, Wanpeng
Daugschies, Arwid
Bangoura, Berit
author_facet Zhang, Runhui
Thabet, Ahmed
Hiob, Lysanne
Zheng, Wanpeng
Daugschies, Arwid
Bangoura, Berit
author_sort Zhang, Runhui
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella are two common parasites in poultry. Mixed infections are likely to occur frequently in chickens due to the high prevalence of both pathogens. In this study, we investigate the co-occurrence of the two pathogens in the same immunocompetent host cell population towards potential parasite-parasite as well as altered patterns of parasite-host interactions. METHODS: Primary macrophages from chicken blood were co-infected in vitro with T. gondii tachyzoites (RH strain) and E. tenella sporozoites (Houghton strain) for 72 h. Morphological observations by light microscopy and assessments of parasite replication by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) were performed at 24, 48 and 72 h post-infection (hpi). Six host cell immune factors previously linked to T. gondii or E. tenella infection were selected for gene expression analysis in this study. RESULTS: Distinct morphological changes of macrophages were observed during mixed infection at 24 hpi and immunological activation of host cells was obvious. Macrophage mRNA expression for iNOS at 48 hpi and for TNF-α at 72 hpi were significantly elevated after mixed infection. Distinct upregulation of IL-10 was also present during co-infection compared to Eimeria mono-infection at 48 and 72 hpi. At 72 hpi, the total number of macrophages as well as the number of both parasites decreased markedly. As measured by qPCR, E. tenella population tended to increase during T. gondii co-infection, while T. gondii replication was not distinctly altered. CONCLUSIONS: Mutual interactions of T. gondii and E. tenella were observed in the selected co-infection model. The interactions are supposed to be indirect considering the observed changes in host cell metabolism. This study would thus help understanding the course of co-infection in chickens that may be relevant in terms of veterinary and zoonotic considerations.
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spelling pubmed-60805112018-08-09 Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages Zhang, Runhui Thabet, Ahmed Hiob, Lysanne Zheng, Wanpeng Daugschies, Arwid Bangoura, Berit Parasit Vectors Research BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella are two common parasites in poultry. Mixed infections are likely to occur frequently in chickens due to the high prevalence of both pathogens. In this study, we investigate the co-occurrence of the two pathogens in the same immunocompetent host cell population towards potential parasite-parasite as well as altered patterns of parasite-host interactions. METHODS: Primary macrophages from chicken blood were co-infected in vitro with T. gondii tachyzoites (RH strain) and E. tenella sporozoites (Houghton strain) for 72 h. Morphological observations by light microscopy and assessments of parasite replication by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) were performed at 24, 48 and 72 h post-infection (hpi). Six host cell immune factors previously linked to T. gondii or E. tenella infection were selected for gene expression analysis in this study. RESULTS: Distinct morphological changes of macrophages were observed during mixed infection at 24 hpi and immunological activation of host cells was obvious. Macrophage mRNA expression for iNOS at 48 hpi and for TNF-α at 72 hpi were significantly elevated after mixed infection. Distinct upregulation of IL-10 was also present during co-infection compared to Eimeria mono-infection at 48 and 72 hpi. At 72 hpi, the total number of macrophages as well as the number of both parasites decreased markedly. As measured by qPCR, E. tenella population tended to increase during T. gondii co-infection, while T. gondii replication was not distinctly altered. CONCLUSIONS: Mutual interactions of T. gondii and E. tenella were observed in the selected co-infection model. The interactions are supposed to be indirect considering the observed changes in host cell metabolism. This study would thus help understanding the course of co-infection in chickens that may be relevant in terms of veterinary and zoonotic considerations. BioMed Central 2018-08-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6080511/ /pubmed/30081942 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3040-0 Text en © The Author(s). 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Zhang, Runhui
Thabet, Ahmed
Hiob, Lysanne
Zheng, Wanpeng
Daugschies, Arwid
Bangoura, Berit
Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
title Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
title_full Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
title_fullStr Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
title_full_unstemmed Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
title_short Mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
title_sort mutual interactions of the apicomplexan parasites toxoplasma gondii and eimeria tenella with cultured poultry macrophages
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6080511/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30081942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3040-0
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