THE NEUROTROPIC PARASITE TOXOPLASMA GONDII INCREASES DOMAPINE METABOLISM BY EMESE PRANDOVSKY, ELIZABETH GASKELL, HEATHER MARTIN, J.P. DUBEY, JOANNE P. WEBSTER, GLENN A. MCCONKEY Presented by Julia Gray

T. GONDII Parasite – an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment Common global protozoan parasite Requires both definitive host and intermediate host to complete its life cycle Cats are the only definitive host Any warm blooded animal can be affected 25% of popluation (over 12)

KEY WORDS Bradyzoites – slowly replicating versions of the parasite Tachyzoites – motile asexually reproducing form of the parasite PC12 Cells – Dopamine producers Immunofluorescence – technique used for light microscopy with a florescence microscope. Uses the specificity of antibodies to their antigen Glyoxylic acid – reacts with catecholamines to form florescent products

EFFECTS IN RODENTS During chronic stage of infection rodents exhibit a distinctive set of behavioral changes Loss of aversion to cat odors Conversely attracted to these odors Specific to feline odor Similar change is not evoked by other predators and has no effect on conditioned fear and aniety Mechanisms for this phenomena are currently unknown

EXPERIMENT Used immunofluorescence to monitor the process of infection in mice Infected the brain with tachyzoites Probed with dopamine antibody (Abcam) which was stained Localization was primarily within the T. gondii tissue cysts

EXPERIMENT Dopamine detected in T. gondii tissue cysts Could this affect neurotransmission? Tested the effect of T. gondii infection on dopamine release from dopminergic neural cells in vitro Took PC12 cells (dopamine producers) and infected them with T. gongii Dopamine content and release were monitored

RESULTS Infected cultures accumulated significantly greater levels of dopamine and the increase correlated with infection rate 3 fold increase in total dopamine content compared to mock- treated uninfected cells

TYROSINE HYDROXYLASE Rate-limiting enzyme in dopamine Significant levels of tyrosine hydroxylase were localized within T. gondii tissue cysts in the brain sections of infected mice T. gondii could provide an enzyme with tyrosine hydroxylase activity (TgTh) Encoded TgTh that could be expressed in the brain tissue cysts To specifically identify parasite-encoded tyrosine hydroxylase they created a custom antibody Target sequence at amino terminal (unique and different from mammalian)

RESULTS T. gondii tyrosine hydroxylase was localized within tissue cysts in chronically infected brains T. gondii both inducing the synthesis of dopaine and producing limiting enzyme

DISCUSSION Mechanism for change in behavior is closely linked to dopamine Encysted T. gondii have been observed in functional neurons with intact synapses Tissue cysts all throughout the brain Higher in amygdala and nucleus accumbens Control of movements (vassal ganglia), reward to stimuli, pleasure, dependency (nucleus accumbens and hippocampus), motivation and cognition, stimuli specific fear

SIGNIFICANCE Affect in humans Lasts throughout the lifetime of the host Association between T. gondii seroprevalence with schizophrenia Dopamine dysreulation is proposed to play a central role in schizophrenia Possibly in combination with glutamate metabolism The principal antipsychotic drug that has been used to treat schizophrenia (dopamine antagonist haloperidol, can also block the development of behavior changes in T. gondii infected rodents Dopamine dysfunction has been associated with a variety of neurological disorders (schizophrenia, ADHD, tic disorders, Tourette’s, dykinesias)