Ultrastructural changes in Tritrichomonas foetus after treatments with AlPcS4 and photodynamic therapy.

The Tritrichomonas foetus is an amitochondrial parasitic protist which causes bovine trichomoniasis, a major sexually transmitted disease in cattle. No effective drugs for this disease have been approved to this date. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an experimental treatment that shows great potential for treating bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and viruses. However, the cytotoxic effect of PDT on protozoan has been poorly studied. In this study, PDT with aluminum phthalocyanine tetrasulfonated (AlPcS4) photosensitizer was efficient in killing T. foetus. The mode of cell death in T. foetus after PDT was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Morphological changes, such as membrane projections, nucleus fragmentation with peripheral masses of heterochromatin, endoplasmic reticulum proliferation, intense cytoplasmic vacuolization, fragmented axostyle-pelta complex, and internalized flagella could be observed. This is the first report to demonstrate cell death in T. foetus after PDT, and thus will open up new lines of investigation to develop new treatments for bovine trichomoniasis.

CD19 LYMPHOCYTE PROLIFERATION INDUCED BY Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis IN C57BL/6 MICE EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED WITH Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasmosis is frequently acquired through the oral route by the ingestion of cysts or oocysts of Toxoplasma gondii. Once ingested, the parasites penetrate the intestinal epithelial cells and rapidly disseminate to all organs in the host. During T. gondii infection, the intestinal microbiota plays an important role in stimulating a protective immune response against the parasite. In this sense the use of probiotics is worthy of note since they are live microorganisms that have beneficial effects on the host through stimulation of the immune response that can be important in the control of T. gondii proliferation and dissemination in the host. In the present study, the action of the probiotic Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis was investigated in C57BL/6 mice infected with oocysts of ME49 strain of T. gondii. The probiotic had an immunomodulatory action, inducing CD19 lymphocyte proliferation and consequently increasing anti-T. gondii antibody level. Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis provided protection in supplemented mice, compared to the control group. In addition, supplemented animals had milder inflammatory process in the small intestine, indicating that the probiotic protects the intestinal mucosa during infection with T. gondii. It was concluded that the probiotic B. animalis subsp. lactis induces humoral immune response capable of providing protection against T. gondii infection.