Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Prevent Toxoplasma gondii Infection by Inducing Autophagy via AMPK Activation.

ABSTRACT: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω3-PUFAs) have potential protective activity in a variety of infectious diseases, but their actions and underlying mechanisms in Toxoplasma gondii infection remain poorly understood. Here, we report that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) robustly induced autophagy in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs). Treatment of T. gondii-infected macrophages with DHA resulted in colocalization of Toxoplasma parasitophorous vacuoles with autophagosomes and reduced intracellular survival of T. gondii. The autophagic and anti-Toxoplasma effects induced by DHA were mediated by AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling. Importantly, BMDMs isolated from Fat-1 transgenic mice, a well-known animal model capable of synthesizing ω3-PUFAs from ω6-PUFAs, showed increas

SUBMITTER: Choi JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6771136 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature