Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 14115-111, Tehran, Iran.
Zoonoses Research Center, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran.
Acta Parasitol. 2022 Sep;67(3):1425-1431. doi: 10.1007/s11686-022-00571-z. Epub 2022 May 26.
Toxoplasmosis can induce various hormonal and behavioral alterations in humans and rodents. Previous studies revealed alterations of sex hormones; especially testosterone, in infected humans and rodents, but little is known about the effects of sex hormones on the propagation of T. gondii. Hence, we aimed to investigate whether testosterone and progesterone influence on T. gondii propagation in neural cells.
The glioblastoma cells (U-87MG) were treated with different concentrations of testosterone and progesterone and the infection was done by tachyzoites of the RH strain of T. gondii. The number of infected cells, viability of T. gondii-infected cells, and parasite burden were measured by direct counting under a light microscope, MTT assay, and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), respectively.
The results showed that testosterone at concentrations of 100 and 250 nM significantly increased the number of infected cells and parasite burden 24 and 48 h post-treatment compared to untreated controls. Progesterone had no significant effects in the same manner.
The results indicated that testosterone could augment the propagation of T. gondii in in vitro.
弓形虫可诱导人类和啮齿动物产生各种激素和行为改变。先前的研究表明，感染人类和啮齿动物的性激素，特别是睾酮，发生了改变，但关于性激素对弓形虫传播的影响知之甚少。因此，我们旨在研究睾酮和孕酮是否会影响弓形虫在神经细胞中的繁殖。
用不同浓度的睾酮和孕酮处理神经胶质瘤细胞（U-87MG），然后用弓形虫 RH 株速殖子进行感染。通过在光显微镜下直接计数、MTT 测定和实时荧光定量 PCR（qPCR）分别测量感染细胞的数量、感染细胞的活力和寄生虫负担。
结果表明，与未处理对照组相比，浓度为 100 和 250 nM 的睾酮在治疗后 24 和 48 小时显著增加了感染细胞的数量和寄生虫负担。孕酮则没有同样的显著影响。
结果表明，睾酮可增强弓形虫在体外的繁殖。
