English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Background  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with cognitive decline and complete loss of basic functions. The ubiquitous apicomplexan parasite  Toxoplasma gondii  ( T. gondii ) infects up to one third of the world’s population and is implicated in AD.    Methods  We infected C57BL/6 wild-type male and female mice with 10  T. gondii  ME49 cysts and assessed whether infection led to behavioral and anatomical effects using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, Western blotting, cell culture assays, as well as an array of mouse behavior tests.    Results  We show that  T. gondii  infection induced two major hallmarks of AD in the brains of C57BL/6 male and female mice: beta-amyloid (Aβ) immunoreactivity and hyperphosphorylated Tau. Infected mice showed significant neuronal death, loss of  N -methyl- d -aspartate receptor (NMDAR) expression, and loss of olfactory sensory neurons.  T. gondii  infection also caused anxiety-like behavior, altered recognition of social novelty, altered spatial memory, and reduced olfactory sensitivity. This last finding was exclusive to male mice, as infected females showed intact olfactory sensitivity.    Conclusions  These results demonstrate that  T. gondii  can induce advanced signs of AD in wild-type mice and that it may induce AD in some individuals with underlying health problems.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (10.1186/s12974-018-1086-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Toxoplasma gondii alters NMDAR signaling and induces signs of Alzheimer’s disease in wild-type, C57BL/6 mice