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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Cyclical appearance of African trypanosomes in the cerebrospinal fluid: New insights in how trypanosomes enter the CNS
PLoS ONE, Volume 9, No. 3, Article e91372, Year 2014
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Description
It is textbook knowledge that human infective forms of Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of sleeping sickness, enter the brain across the blood-brain barrier after an initial phase of weeks (rhodesiense) or months (gambiense) in blood. Based on our results using an animal model, both statements seem questionable. As we and others have shown, the first infection relevant crossing of the blood brain border occurs via the choroid plexus, i.e. via the blood-CSF barrier. In addition, counting trypanosomes in blood-free CSF obtained by an atlanto-occipital access revealed a cyclical infection in CSF that was directly correlated to the trypanosome density in blood infection. We also obtained conclusive evidence of organ infiltration, since parasites were detected in tissues outside the blood vessels in heart, spleen, liver, eye, testis, epididymis, and especially between the cell layers of the pia mater including the Virchow-Robin space. Interestingly, in all organs except pia mater, heart and testis, trypanosomes showed either a more or less degraded appearance of cell integrity by loss of the surface coat (VSG), loss of the microtubular cytoskeleton and loss of the intracellular content, or where taken up by phagocytes and degraded intracellularly within lysosomes. This is also true for trypanosomes placed intrathecally into the brain parenchyma using a stereotactic device. We propose a different model of brain infection that is in accordance with our observations and with well-established facts about the development of sleeping sickness. © 2014 Mogk et al.
Authors & Co-Authors
Mogk, Stefan
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Meiwes, Andreas
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Shtopel, Swetlana
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Schraermeyer, Ulrich
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Lazarus, Michael
Japan, Tsukuba
University of Tsukuba
Kubata, Bruno Kilunga
Kenya, Nairobi
Au/nepad Agency Regional Office for Eastern and Central Africa
Wolburg, Hartwig
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Duszenko, Michael
Germany, Tubingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
China, Shanghai
Tongji University
Statistics
Citations: 54
Authors: 8
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0091372
e-ISSN:
19326203
Research Areas
Health System And Policy