Modulation of the pathologic and apoptotic changes of experimental toxoplasmosis by concomitant infection with...

This study shows that Toxoplasma gondii infection is capable of inducing a process of programmed cell death not only in the infected hepatocytes of experimental murine model, but also the neighbouring non-infected cells. However, some cells showed a possible mixed apoptotic and necrotic pattern. Surprisingly, lymphocytes and Kupffer cells in portal sinusoids nearby the parasite vacuoles showed no apparent changes. Toxoplasma in concomitant infection with a different parasite, Trichinella spiralis, clearly mitigate the pathologic and apoptotic changes caused by T. gondii. These findings might help in understanding the problematic biology and immunopathogenesis of T. gondii. The results also augments previous reports by the same authors about the possible protective role of heterologous antigens of one parasite against a biologically and immunologically different parasite.