Gut microbiota composition does not associate with toxoplasma infection in rats.

ABSTRACT: Toxoplasma infection in intermediate host species closely associates with inflammation. This association has led to suggestions that the behavioural changes associated with infection may be indirectly driven by the resulting sustained inflammation rather than a direct behavioural manipulation by the parasite. If this is correct, sustained inflammation in chronically infected rodents should present as widespread differences in the gastrointestinal microbiota due to the dependency between the composition of these microbiota and sustained inflammation. We conducted a randomized controlled experiment in rats that were assigned to a Toxoplasma-treatment, placebo-treatment or negative control group. We euthanised rats during the chronic phase of infection, collected their caecal stool samples an

SUBMITTER: Taggart PL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9546062 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature