A preliminary study on Toxoplasma gondii interfering with copper metabolism pathways in mouse kidney
- VernacularTitle:弓形虫干扰小鼠肾脏铜代谢途径初探
- Author:
Jun YANG
1
;
Chuanming REN
2
;
Min LIU
1
;
Kunting WANG
2
;
He CHEN
3
;
Yihong CAI
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From: Acta Universitatis Medicinalis Anhui 2026;61(1):127-132
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
- Abstract: ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of Toxoplasma gondii infection on copper metabolism in the kidneys of mice. MethodsA total of 80 7-8-week-old C57BL/6 female mice were randomly divided into four groups of 20 mice in each group after one week of adaptation, including Control group, Cu group, TgCtwh6 group and Cu+TgCtwh6 group. Mice that were not infected and fed with normal diet and water were used as the Control group; Mice fed with 1 g/kg of copper chloride processing diet and 0.1% copper chloride water for 60 consecutive days were used as Cu group; Mice infected with 25-30 TgCtwh6 cysts (one of the predominant genotype Chinese 1 in China) fed with normal diet and water were used as the TgCtwh6 group; mice infected with 25-30 TgCtwh6 cysts and fed with a processed diet containing 1 g/kg of copper chloride and water with 0.1% copper chloride for 60 consecutive days were used as the Cu+TgCtwh6 group. ICP-MS was used to determine the changes in copper content in kidney tissues. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the pathological changes of mouse kidney tissue. The number of apoptotic cells was observed by PI staining. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and superoxide dismutase (SOD1, SOD2). RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of cuproptosis-related genes. ResultsPathological manifestations such as inflammatory cell infiltration in the Cu group and TgCtwh6 group were seen under the microscope, and the inflammatory infiltrating cells of the renal interstitial were reduced in the Cu+TgCtwh6 group, and the pathological manifestations
