Behavioral Study of Mice Experimentally Infected with Toxoplasma gondii

Al-Taii, Zaynab; Hamoo, Reedh

doi:10.21608/ejvs.2023.211338.1501

Behavioral Study of Mice Experimentally Infected with Toxoplasma gondii

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Biology, College of Education for Girls, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq

10.21608/ejvs.2023.211338.1501

Abstract

T oxoplasma gondii parasite is a parasitic protozoan that has the ability to infect a wide range of warm-blooded intermediate hosts, including humans. The parasite invades the host’s central nervous system of the host, causing damage to the brain and muscles and may cause an imbalance in neurotransmitters, which causes abnormal behavior changes of the host. This study aimed to measure the behavioral changes in laboratory mice which infected experimentally with Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite was isolated from placenta samples in women infected with toxoplasmosis from Al-Salam Teaching Hospital in Mosul during September 2022, and injected into peritoneal cavity of laboratory mice, the behavioral changes were measured in mice open field (OF) and determined the effect of infection on concentration of dopamine and acetylcholinesterase in mice serum. As the results showed a decrease in the locomotors activity of the mice in the open field, as well as a decrease in the rate of movement in the open field in males and females mice after 6 weeks p.i . Serological tests in males and females showed an increase in dopamine concentration after 3 and 6 weeks p.i. while caused a significant decrease in the concentration of acetylcholinesterase in serum of infected males and females mice. This result indicates that infection with Toxoplasma gondii leads to an increase and impairment in the ability to explore, and the cysts of the parasite can destroy neurons in the brain, alter the concentration of neuroimmune and interfere with the process of regulating neuroimmunity in the host.

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