Análises histológicas e moleculares do epitélio intestinal de camundongos C57BL/6 infectados oralmente com 10 ou 20 cistos de Toxoplasma gondii

Abstract

The gastrointestinal epithelium is the major port of entry for several pathogens, including the Toxoplasma gondii. The first barrier against T. gondii is the intestinal mucosa, and the study of this epithelium is important for a better understanding of toxoplasmosis. Thus, the present study is justified by the need of a report capable of evaluating the histological and molecular differences in the small intestine using two inoculums of cysts (10 and 20) of T. gondii targeting an oral infection in the C57BL/6 mice strain. Our results indicate that the high parasitic load used for the mice experimental infection, the greater is the intestinal inflammation and parasitism. Moreover, the greater the parasite load, the greater the depletion of goblet and Paneth cells, resulting in more severe infection in these animals. Additionally, the molecular markers, Math1 and Hes1, representing secretory cells and enterocytes respectively, decrease by T. gondii infection along with increased parasite load. The concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines promote inflammation by T. gondii infection which will further increase with the 20 cysts dose. We conclude that the higher the parasite load used for the experimental infection, the higher is the inflammation, parasitism, and cell depletion in the intestinal epithelium.