Abstract
Neurocysticercosis is a heterogeneous disease, and the patient’s sex seems to play a role in this heterogeneity. Hosts’ sexual dimorphism in cysticercosis has been largely explored in the murine model of intraperitoneal Taenia crassiceps cysticercosis. In this study, we investigated the sexual dimorphism of inflammatory responses in a rat model of extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis caused by T. crassiceps. T. crassiceps cysticerci were inoculated in the subarachnoid space of Wistar rats (25 females, 22 males). Ninety days later, the rats were euthanized for histologic, immunohistochemistry, and cytokines studies. Ten animals also underwent a 7-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Female rats presented a higher concentration of immune cells in the arachnoid-brain interface, reactive astrogliosis in the periventricular region, in situ pro-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin [IL]-6) and anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10), and more intense hydrocephalus on MRI than males. Intracranial hypertension signals were not observed during the observational period. Overall, these results suggest sexual dimorphism in the intracranial inflammatory response that accompanied T. crassiceps extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Mr Khallil Taverna Chaim, MSc — from Universidade de São Paulo (USP) — for the support on magnetic resonance imaging protocol and acquisition.
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Conceptualization: PTHF. Experimental procedures and data curation: CAAM, LHVM, TCM, VTO, DG. Formal analysis: VMVM, SSB, ATF. Investigation: RB, MAZ, ES, AF, PTHF. Project administration: CAAM, LHVM, PTHF. Visualization: CAAM, LHVM, TCM, VTO, DG, VMVM, SSB, ATF, RB, MAZ, ES, AF. Manuscript draft: PTHF. Review and editing: SSB, AF, RB, MAZ, ES, AF. Approval of final version: all.
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Moreira, C.A.A., Murayama, L.H.V., Martins, T.d.C. et al. Sexual dimorphism in the murine model of extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis. Parasitol Res 122, 2147–2154 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07913-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07913-4