Classical treatment for congenital toxoplasmosis is based on combination of sulfadiazine and pyrimethamine plus folinic acid. Due to teratogenic effects and bone marrow suppression caused by pyrimethamine, the establishment of new therapeutic strategies is indispensable to minimize the side effects and improve the control of infection. Previous studies demonstrated that enrofloxacin and toltraz...

BACKGROUND Toxoplasma gondii is the causal agent of toxoplasmosis in which one third of the world's population has been infected. In pregnant women, it may cause abortion and severe damage to the fetal central nervous system. During pregnancy, the prevalence of toxoplasmosis increases throughout the second and third quarter of gestation, simultaneously progesterone and 17β-estradiol also increa...

Compound 566C80, 2-[trans-4-(4-chlorophenyl)cyclohexyl]-3-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, was studied for its in vitro and in vivo activities against Toxoplasma gondii. Replication within human foreskin fibroblasts of tachyzoites of seven different strains, five of them isolated from AIDS patients, was inhibited by concentrations as low as 4.8 x 10(-9) M. In vivo, a dose of 100 mg/kg of body weight...

We propose that the 70-kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) protects virulent Toxoplasma gondii from the effects of the host by immunomodulation. This hypothesis was tested using quercetin and antisense oligonucleotides targeting the start codon of the virulent T. gondii HSP70 gene. Oligonucleotides were transiently transfected into two virulent (RH, ENT) and two avirulent (ME49, C) strains of T. gon...

PURPOSE Toxoplasma gondii is a major cause of ocular disease, which can lead to permanent vision loss in humans. T cells are critically involved in parasite control, but little is known about the molecules that promote T-cell trafficking and migration in the retina. Thus, the aim of this study was to image and dissect the T-cell response during chronic toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis. METHODS C...

Injection of 10 cysts of Toxoplasma gondii (Me49 strain) into Swiss Webster mice results in 1) an acute phase of infection lasting for 2-3 wk, characterized by weight loss, and 2) a chronic phase in which surviving mice show either partial weight recovery (Gainers) or persistent, although stable, cachexia (Nongainers). In response to a second immunological stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (L...

This work evaluated the kinetics of events that occur in the placenta of Calomys callosus after Toxoplasma gondii infection. Animals on the first day of pregnancy (dop) and virgin nonpregnant females were perorally infected with 20 cysts of T. gondii strain ME49. After 100 days of infection, the virgin animals were mated and received an additional 20 cysts on the first dop. The placentas and th...

BACKGROUND Following peroral Toxoplasma (T.) gondii infection, susceptible mice develop acute ileitis due to a microbiota-dependent Th1 type immunopathology. Toll-like-receptor (TLR)-9 is known to recognize bacterial DNA and mediates intestinal inflammation, but its impact on intestinal microbiota composition and extra-intestinal sequelae following T. gondii infection has not yet been elucidate...

BACKGROUND Within seven days following peroral high dose infection with Toxoplasma gondii susceptible conventionally colonized mice develop acute ileitis due to an underlying T helper cell (Th) -1 type immunopathology. We here addressed whether mice harboring a human intestinal microbiota developed intestinal, extra-intestinal and systemic sequelae upon ileitis induction. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPA...

BACKGROUND Although the onset of anemia during infectious disease is commonly correlated with production of inflammatory cytokines, the mechanisms by which cytokines induce anemia are poorly defined. This study focused on the mechanism research. METHODS Different types of mice were infected perorally with Toxoplasma gondii strain ME49. At the indicated times, samples from each mouse were harv...