AI Article Synopsis
- The Taenia crassiceps cysticercus is a type of tapeworm that infects rodents, leading to two main observations: ongoing cellular immunosuppression and increasing parasite loads in infected mice.
- Enhanced apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is noted in spleen cells of infected mice, indicating that this process is caspase-mediated and involves characteristic DNA fragmentation.
- The apoptosis occurs in key immune cells (CD4(+) and CD19(+)) and may contribute to the immunosuppression that supports the parasite's success, especially given the important role of CD4(+) T cells in managing infections.
Article Abstract
The Taenia crassiceps cysticercus is a cestode that naturally and experimentally infects rodents in which it reproduces by budding. In the laboratory, a persistent cellular immunosuppression with a concomitant increasing load of parasites has been observed in experimentally infected BALB/cAnN mice. In this study, enhanced apoptosis was found in spleen cells from 30-day infected mice with a typical "ladder-patterned" DNA fragmentation and an increase in phosphatidylserine expression. A characteristic poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage indicates that this cell death is caspase-mediated. Apoptosis was detected in the CD4(+) and CD19(+) splenocytes of infected mice after in vitro stimulation with cysticercal antigens. Considering previous results on the crucial role that CD4(+) T cells play in controlling the extent of infection, apoptosis in this T-lymphocyte subpopulation induced by T. crassiceps cysticerci could be responsible for the immunosuppression that underlies parasite success.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00436-003-0829-2 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!