IL-12p40 deficiency leads to uncontrolled Trypanosoma cruzi dissemination in the spinal cord resulting in neuronal death and motor dysfunction.

ABSTRACT: Chagas' disease is a protozoosis caused by Trypanosoma cruzi that frequently shows severe chronic clinical complications of the heart or digestive system. Neurological disorders due to T. cruzi infection are also described in children and immunosuppressed hosts. We have previously reported that IL-12p40 knockout (KO) mice infected with the T. cruzi strain Sylvio X10/4 develop spinal cord neurodegenerative disease. Here, we further characterized neuropathology, parasite burden and inflammatory component associated to the fatal neurological disorder occurring in this mouse model. Forelimb paralysis in infected IL-12p40KO mice was associated with 60% (p<0.05) decrease in spinal cord neuronal density, glutamate accumulation (153%, p<0.05) and strong demyelization in lesion areas, mostly in tho

SUBMITTER: Bombeiro AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3495776 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature