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Endothelial cell invasion by Toxoplasma gondii: differences between cell types and parasite strains

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Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii disseminates and causes congenital infection by invasion of the endothelial cells. The aim of this study was to analyze the ability of two strains to invade two endothelial cell types. Tachyzoites of the RH and ME49 strains were expanded in Balb/c and C57BL6-RAG2−/− mice, respectively. Tachyzoites were harvested from 72 h Vero cell cultures and incubated for 30 min to 4 h at 10:1 parasite/cell ratio in 24-well plates, containing monolayers of either HMEC-1 line or human umbilical cells (HUVECs). The number of infected cells and parasitic vacuoles per infected cell were counted in Wright stained slides. A slow increase in the proportion of infected cells occurred but varied according to cell type–parasite strain combination: ME49 tachyzoites invaded up to 63 % HMEC-1 cells, while RH parasites infected up to 19 % HUVECs. ME49 and RH tachyzoites invaded 49 and 46 % HUVECs and HMEC-1 cells, respectively. Reinvasion and formation of new parasitophorous vacuoles of infected cells was more frequent than invasion of noninfected cells. The results support that the factors influencing invasion, and thus dissemination and vertical transmission, are parasite type, host cell type/subtype, and activation state. Interestingly, T. gondii virulence does not seem to relay on its invasion efficiency, but probably on replication speed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are in debt to Dr. Felipe A. Massó and Dr. Araceli Páez for their invaluable advice and support in the collection of cords and the in vitro culture of HUVECs, to Dr. Guadalupe Santiago-Ramos for cord collection and donation, and to Héctor Luna-Pastén and Rafael López-Reboseño for technical assistance in tachyzoite reproduction in mice. This work was supported by the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACyT, grant number 139721).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Inmunología Experimental, Subdirección de Medicina Experimental, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría Secretaría de Salud, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Irma Cañedo-Solares, Montserrat Calzada-Ruiz, Luz Belinda Ortiz-Alegría & Dolores Correa

  2. Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas y de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Irma Cañedo-Solares

  3. Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Alda Rocío Ortiz-Muñiz

  4. Av. Insurgentes Sur 3700-C, Col. Insurgentes Cuicuilco, 04530, Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico

    Dolores Correa

Authors
  1. Irma Cañedo-Solares
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  2. Montserrat Calzada-Ruiz
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  3. Luz Belinda Ortiz-Alegría
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  4. Alda Rocío Ortiz-Muñiz
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  5. Dolores Correa
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Correspondence to Dolores Correa.

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Cañedo-Solares, I., Calzada-Ruiz, M., Ortiz-Alegría, L.B. et al. Endothelial cell invasion by Toxoplasma gondii: differences between cell types and parasite strains. Parasitol Res 112, 3029–3033 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3476-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3476-2

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