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Trichinella pseudospiralis infection is characterized by more continuous and diffuse myopathy than T. spiralis

T Boonmars1, Z Wu, I Nagano

  • 1Department of Parasitology, Gifu University School of Medicine, Yanagido1-1, Gifu 501-1194, Japan.

Parasitology Research
|June 11, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Trichinella pseudospiralis infection causes diffuse myopathy and delayed muscle cell disintegration in mice compared to Trichinella spiralis. This is linked to prolonged expression of apoptosis-related genes in infected muscle tissue.

Area of Science:

  • Parasitology
  • Immunology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Trichinella spiralis and T. pseudospiralis are parasitic nematodes causing trichinellosis.
  • Histopathological differences in muscle infection by these species are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the histopathology and molecular responses to Trichinella spiralis and T. pseudospiralis infections in mice.
  • To elucidate the role of apoptosis-related gene expression in the myopathy caused by these parasites.

Main Methods:

  • Time-course histopathology and electron microscopy in infected mice.
  • Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to analyze apoptosis-related gene expression.
  • Micro-dissection of infected muscle tissue for targeted gene expression analysis.

Main Results:

  • T. spiralis infection formed cysts with localized myopathy, while T. pseudospiralis caused diffuse myopathy without cyst formation.
  • Muscle cell disintegration was delayed in T. pseudospiralis infections.
  • Apoptosis-related genes (p53, MDM2, p21, BAX, Apaf-1, Caspase 9, PKB) showed prolonged expression in T. pseudospiralis-infected muscles, correlating with myopathy extent.

Conclusions:

  • T. pseudospiralis induces a more severe and widespread myopathy than T. spiralis.
  • Prolonged apoptosis-related gene expression is a key feature of T. pseudospiralis-induced myopathy.

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