School of Medical Laboratory Science, Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e32161. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032161. Epub 2012 Feb 29.
It has been hypothesized that blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection might be due to the apoptosis of the hosts' BBB cells. Here, we evaluated this hypothesis through several methods, all based on an in vitro mouse BBB model consisting of primary culture brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) and brain astrocytic cells (BACs). In the present study, a four-hour percolation and HRP permeability experiment showed that A. cantonensis larvae extracts can increase the permeability of the BBB. Apoptosis among BMECs and BACs after exposure to larvae extracts was monitored by TUNEL and annexin-V-FITC/PI double staining. A. cantonensis larvae extracts were found to induce apoptosis in both BMECs and BACs. For this reason, we concluded that the induction of apoptosis might participate in the BBB dysfunction observed during angiostrongyliasis. Improved fundamental understanding of how A. cantonensis induces apoptosis may lead to new approaches to the treatment or prevention of this parasitic disease.
据推测，血管内南方旋毛虫感染导致的血脑屏障（BBB）功能障碍可能是由于宿主 BBB 细胞的凋亡所致。在这里，我们通过几种方法评估了这一假设，所有方法均基于由原代培养的脑微血管内皮细胞（BMEC）和脑星形胶质细胞（BAC）组成的体外小鼠 BBB 模型。在本研究中，四小时的渗滤和 HRP 通透性实验表明，血管内南方旋毛虫幼虫提取物可以增加 BBB 的通透性。通过 TUNEL 和 annexin-V-FITC/PI 双重染色监测暴露于幼虫提取物后的 BMEC 和 BAC 中的细胞凋亡。发现血管内南方旋毛虫幼虫提取物可诱导 BMEC 和 BAC 凋亡。因此，我们得出结论，凋亡的诱导可能参与了血管内旋毛虫病中观察到的 BBB 功能障碍。对血管内南方旋毛虫如何诱导凋亡的基本认识的提高，可能为治疗或预防这种寄生虫病提供新的方法。
