AUTHOR=Ma Jun , He Jun-Jun , Hou Jun-Ling , Zhou Chun-Xue , Elsheikha Hany M. , Zhu Xing-Quan 

TITLE=Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics Reveals Metabolic Alterations in the Mouse Cerebellum During Toxoplasma gondii Infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01555

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.01555

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite with a remarkable neuro-tropism. We recently showed that T. gondii infection can alter the global metabolism of the cerebral cortex of mice. However, the impact of T. gondii infection on the metabolism of the cerebellum remains unknown. Here, a metabolomics study, by using of ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, was performed to obtain a global view of changes in the metabolites and associated pathways that occur in the mouse cerebellum during infection by T. gondii. Multivariate statistics revealed differences in the metabolic profiles between the infected and control mouse groups and between the infected mouse groups as infection advanced. We also detected 10, 22, 42 significantly altered metabolites in the infected cerebellum at 7, 14, and 21 days post infection (dpi), respectively. Four metabolites (tabersonine, arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and oleic acid) were identified as potential biomarker or responsive metabolites to T. gondii infection in mouse cerebellum. Three of these metabolites (arachidonic acid, docosahexaenoic acid and oleic acid) play roles in the regulation of host behavior and immune response. Pathway analysis showed that T. gondii infection of the cerebellum involves reprogramming of amino acid and lipid metabolism. These results showcase temporal metabolomic profile changes during cerebellar infection with T. gondii in mice. The study provides new insight into the neuropathogenesis of T. gondii infection and reveals new metabolites and pathways that mediate the interplay between T. gondii and the mouse cerebellum.