Tedford, E. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2020

Signals Secreted by Infection Induce Transcriptional and Epigenetic Changes in Neurons

Infection with the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii induces changes in neurotransmission, neuroinflammation, and behavior, yet it remains elusive how these changes come about. In this study we investigated how norepinephrine levels are altered by infection. TINEV (Toxoplasma-induced neuronal extracellular vesicles) isolated from infected noradrenergic cells down-regulated dopamine {beta}-hydroxylase (DBH) gene expression in human and rodent cells. Here we report that intracerebral injection of TINEVs into the brain is sufficient to induce DBH down-regulation and distrupt catecholaminergic signalling. Further, TINEV treatment induced hypermethylation upstream of the DBH gene. An antisense lncRNA to DBH was found in purified TINEV preparations. Paracrine signalling to induce transcriptional gene silencing and DNA methylation may be a common mode to regulate neurologic function.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Downregulation of the central noradrenergic system by Toxoplasma gondii infection

The parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii becomes encysted in brain and muscle tissue during chronic infection, a stage that was previously thought to be dormant but has been found to be active and associated with physiological effects in the host. Dysregulation of catecholamines in the CNS has previously been observed in chronically-infected animals. In the study described here, the noradrenergic system was suppressed with decreased levels of norepinephrine in brains of infected animals and in infected neuronal cells in vitro. Expression of dopamine {beta}-hydroxylase (DBH), essential for synthesis of norepinephrine from dopamine, was the most differentially-expressed gene in infections in vitro and was down-regulated in infected brain tissue, particularly in the prefrontal cortex and dorsal locus coeruleus/pons region. The down-regulated DBH expression in infected rat catecholaminergic and human neuronal cells corresponded with decreased norepinephrine and increased dopamine. As the DBH suppression was observed in vitro, this effect is not caused by neuroinflammation. Silencing of DBH expression was specific for T. gondii infection and was not observed with CMV infection. The noradrenergic-linked behaviors of sociability and arousal were altered in chronically-infected animals, with a high correlation between DBH expression and infection intensity. These findings together provide a plausible mechanism to explain prior discrepancies in changes to CNS neurotransmitters levels with infection. The suppression of norepinephrine synthesis observed here may, in part, explain behavioural effects of infection, associations with mental illness, and neurological consequences of infection such as the loss of coordination and motor impairments associated with human toxoplasmosis.

microbiology↗