Stanley Division of Developmental Neurovirology, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2024 Sep 30;14:1415079. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1415079. eCollection 2024.
( is one of the most successful intracellular protozoa in that it can infect the majority of mammalian cell types during the acute phase of infection. Furthermore, it is able to establish a chronic infection for the host's entire lifespan by developing an encysted parasite form, primarily in the muscles and brain of the host, to avoid the host immune system. The infection affects one third of the world population and poses an increased risk for people with a suppressed immune system. Despite the dormant characteristics of chronic infection, there is much evidence suggesting that this infection leads to specific behavior changes in both humans and rodents. Although numerous hypotheses have been put forth, the exact mechanisms underlying these behavior changes have yet to be understood. In recent years, several studies revealed a strong connection between the gut microbiome and the different organ systems that are affected in infection. While it is widely studied and accepted that acute infection can lead to a dramatic disruption of the host's normal, well-balanced microbial ecosystem (microbial dysbiosis), changes in the gut microbiome during the chronic stage of infection has not been well characterized. This review is intended to briefly inspect the different hypotheses that attempt to explain the behavior changes during infection. Furthermore, this review proposes to consider the potential link between gut microbial dysbiosis, and behavior changes in infection as a novel way to describe the underlying mechanism.
刚地弓形虫是最成功的细胞内原生动物之一,因为它在感染的急性期可以感染大多数哺乳动物细胞类型。此外,它能够通过形成包囊寄生虫形式在宿主的整个生命周期中建立慢性感染,主要在宿主的肌肉和大脑中,以逃避宿主的免疫系统。这种感染影响了世界上三分之一的人口,并且对免疫系统受到抑制的人来说风险更大。尽管慢性感染具有休眠特性,但有大量证据表明,这种感染会导致人类和啮齿动物的特定行为变化。尽管提出了许多假说,但这些行为变化的确切机制仍未得到理解。近年来,几项研究揭示了肠道微生物组与刚地弓形虫感染中受影响的不同器官系统之间的强烈联系。虽然广泛研究并接受急性刚地弓形虫感染会导致宿主正常、平衡的微生物生态系统(微生物失调)的剧烈破坏,但在感染的慢性阶段,肠道微生物组的变化尚未得到很好的描述。本文旨在简要检查试图解释刚地弓形虫感染期间行为变化的不同假说。此外,本文提出将肠道微生物失调与刚地弓形虫感染中的行为变化之间的潜在联系作为描述潜在机制的一种新方法。