Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande, 6, 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal.
Parasitol Res. 2023 Mar;122(3):729-737. doi: 10.1007/s00436-023-07782-x. Epub 2023 Jan 25.
Cerebral malaria (CM) is a severe neurological condition caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Disruption of the brain-blood barrier (BBB) is a key pathological event leading to brain edema and vascular leakage in both humans and in the mouse model of CM. Interactions of brain endothelial cells with infected red blood cells (iRBCs) and with circulating inflammatory mediators and immune cells contribute to BBB dysfunction in CM. Adjunctive therapies for CM aim at preserving the BBB to prevent neurologic deficits. Experimental animal and cellular models are essential to develop new therapeutic strategies. However, in mice, the disease develops rapidly, which offers a very narrow time window for testing the therapeutic potential of drugs acting in the BBB. Here, we establish a brain endothelial cell barrier whose disturbance can be monitored by several parameters. Using this system, we found that incubation with iRBCs and with extracellular particles (EPs) released by iRBCs changes endothelial cell morphology, decreases the tight junction protein zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), increases the gene expression of the intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and induces a significant reduction in transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) with increased permeability. We propose this in vitro experimental setup as a straightforward tool to investigate molecular interactions and pathways causing endothelial barrier dysfunction and to test compounds that may target BBB and be effective against CM. A pre-selection of the effective compounds that strengthen the resistance of the brain endothelial cell barrier to Plasmodium-induced blood factors in vitro may increase the likelihood of their efficacy in preclinical disease mouse models of CM and in subsequent clinical trials with patients.
脑型疟疾(CM)是由恶性疟原虫引起的严重神经疾病。血脑屏障(BBB)的破坏是导致人类和 CM 小鼠模型中脑水肿和血管渗漏的关键病理事件。脑内皮细胞与感染的红细胞(iRBC)以及循环炎症介质和免疫细胞的相互作用导致 CM 中的 BBB 功能障碍。CM 的辅助治疗旨在保护 BBB 以预防神经功能缺损。实验动物和细胞模型对于开发新的治疗策略至关重要。然而,在小鼠中,疾病发展迅速,这为测试作用于 BBB 的药物的治疗潜力提供了非常狭窄的时间窗口。在这里,我们建立了一个脑内皮细胞屏障,其可以通过几个参数来监测其障碍。使用该系统,我们发现与 iRBC 以及由 iRBC 释放的细胞外颗粒(EP)孵育会改变内皮细胞形态,降低紧密连接蛋白闭合蛋白-1(ZO-1),增加细胞间黏附分子 1(ICAM-1)的基因表达,并诱导显著降低跨内皮电阻(TEER),同时增加通透性。我们提出这种体外实验装置作为一种简单的工具来研究导致内皮屏障功能障碍的分子相互作用和途径,并测试可能靶向 BBB 并对 CM 有效的化合物。在体外筛选有效化合物以增强脑内皮细胞对疟原虫诱导的血液因子的抵抗力,可能会增加其在 CM 疾病小鼠模型和随后的临床试验中的有效性的可能性。
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