Project description:Prenatal Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection often causes CNS maldevelopment. In a murine model, we detect Murine Cytomegalovirus (MCMV) in brain following intra-peritoneal inoculation at birth. Infected mice show impaired cerebellar development and impaired neurologic function on a beam balance test as adults. Among developmental genes differentially regulated, hindbrain expression of the homeodomain transcription factor HOXa5 was reduced with infection, and fewer HOXa5 expressing neurons were found in vestibular nuclei. Based on the hypothesis that immune activation connects focal viral infection and global CNS maldevelopment, we defined the components of CNS immune response. Flow cytometry showed a large increase in both number and activation of CNS monocytes. Monocytes were found in close association with infected cells by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Oligonucleotide microarrays contained herein identified many differentially expressed genes related to innate immune response. Chemokines, cytokines, cell surface receptors, and proteases are some of the many immunological genes shown to be differentially regulated by MCMV infection. These results together show that MCMV infection induces a complex immune response associated with changes in developmental gene expression and lasting neurologic defecit. Keywords: disease state comparison (virus infection) and competetive hybridization for expression analysis
Project description:Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an opportunistic parasite that can infect the central nervous system, causing severe toxoplasmosis and behavioral cognitive impairment. Mortality is high in immunocompromised individuals with toxoplasmosis, most commonly due to reactivation of infection in the central nervous system (CNS). There are still no effective vaccines and drugs for the prevention and treatment of toxoplasmosis. There are five developmental stages for T. gondii to complete life cycle, of which the tachyzoite and bradyzoite stages are the key to the acute and chronic infection. In this study, to better understanding of how T. gondii interacts with the host central nervous system at different stages of infection, we constructed acute and chronic infection models of T. gondii in astrocytes, and used lab-free proteomics to detect the proteome changes before and after infection, respectively.
Project description:Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the diversity of the immunological landscape in response to murine coronavirus infection of the central nervous system
Project description:Peripheral nerves contain axons and their enwrapping glia cells named Schwann cells (SC) that are either myelinating or non-myelinating (nmSC). Our understanding of other cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) remains limited. Here, we provide an unbiased single-cell transcriptomic characterization of the non-diseased rodent PNS. We identified and independently confirmed novel markers of previously underappreciated nmSC and nerve-associated fibroblasts. We also found and characterized two distinct populations of nerve-resident homeostatic myeloid cells that transcriptionally differed from central nervous system microglia. In a model of chronic autoimmune neuritis, homeostatic myeloid cells were outnumbered by infiltrating lymphocytes which modulated the local cell-cell interactome and induced a specific transcriptional response in glia cells. This response was partially shared between the peripheral and central nervous system glia identifying common immunological features across different parts of the nervous system. Our study thus identifies novel subtypes and cell-type markers of PNS cells and a partially conserved autoimmunity module induced in glia cells.
