Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Parasite Immunol. 2020 Feb;42(2):e12690. doi: 10.1111/pim.12690. Epub 2019 Dec 18.
Pregnant BALB/c mice infected with a Toxoplasma gondii type II strain were used to determine how pregnancy interferes with the development of maternal immunity to T gondii and how infection disrupts pregnancy and foetal development.
Maternal and foetal parasite loads were assessed by amplification of T gondii SAG1 using qPCR. Adverse effects of infection were evaluated on foetal-placental development by quantification of implantation units undergoing resorption and by histopathological analyses. Serum progesterone levels were quantified by immunoassay. The effect of T gondii infection on maternal immunity was determined by assessing the cellular composition of spleens by flow cytometry.
Infected pregnant mice exhibited clinical signs of infection, inflammation and necrosis at the maternal-foetal interface and decreased serum progesterone levels. In infected mice, there was a clear effect of pregnancy and infection on macrophage cell numbers. However, no differences in the parasite load were detected between non-pregnant and pregnant mice.
Maternal T gondii infection induced adverse effects at the maternal-foetal interface. Alterations were found in immune spleen cells, dependent on the day of pregnancy, relative to nonpregnant animals. The results obtained suggest a pregnancy-dependent mechanism during T gondii infection able to interfere with macrophage numbers.
用感染 T 弓形虫 II 型株的 BALB/c 孕鼠来确定妊娠如何干扰母体对 T 弓形虫的免疫发展，以及感染如何破坏妊娠和胎儿发育。
通过 qPCR 扩增 T 弓形虫 SAG1 来评估母体和胎儿寄生虫负荷。通过定量分析吸收的植入单位和组织病理学分析来评估感染对胎-胎盘发育的不良影响。通过免疫测定来量化血清孕激素水平。通过流式细胞术评估脾脏的细胞组成来确定 T 弓形虫感染对母体免疫的影响。
感染的孕鼠表现出感染、炎症和母体-胎儿界面坏死的临床症状，以及血清孕激素水平下降。在感染的小鼠中，妊娠和感染对巨噬细胞数量有明显影响。然而，未怀孕和怀孕的小鼠之间的寄生虫负荷没有差异。
母体 T 弓形虫感染在母体-胎儿界面引起不良影响。与未怀孕的动物相比，在妊娠的不同天数，免疫脾细胞发生了变化。研究结果表明，在 T 弓形虫感染期间存在一种依赖于妊娠的机制，能够干扰巨噬细胞数量。
