Establishment and validation of a guinea pig model for human congenital toxoplasmosis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite with a worldwide distribution. Congenital infection in humans and animals may lead to severe symptoms in the offspring, especially in the brain. A suitable animal model for human congenital toxoplasmosis is currently lacking. The aim of this study is to establish and validate the guinea pig as a model for human congenital toxoplasmosis by investigating the impact of the T. gondii infection dose, the duration of infection and the gestational stage at infection on the seroconversion, survival rate of dams, fate of the offspring, T. gondii DNA loads in various offspring tissues and organs and the integrity of the offspring brain.

Methods

Pregnant guinea pigs were infected with three different doses (10, 100, 500

SUBMITTER: Grochow T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8344189 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature