Neurological Infection, Kynurenine Pathway, and Parasitic Infection by Neospora caninum.

Neuroinflammation is one of the most frequently studied topics of neurosciences as it is a common feature in almost all neurological disorders. Although the primary function of neuroinflammation is to protect the nervous system from an insult, the complex and sequential response of activated glial cells can lead to neurological damage. Depending on the type of insults and the time post-insult, the inflammatory response can be neuroprotective, neurotoxic, or, depending on the glial cell types, both. There are multiple pathways activated and many bioactive intermediates are released during neuroinflammation. One of the most common one is the kynurenine pathway, catabolizing tryptophan, which is involved in immune regulation, neuroprotection, and neurotoxicity. Different models have been used to study the kynurenine pathway metabolites to understand their involvements in the development and maintenance of the inflammatory processes triggered by infections. Among them, the parasitic infection Neospora caninum could be used as a relevant model to study the role of the kynurenine pathway in the neuroinflammatory response and the subset of cells involved.

[Detection anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in swines bred and abated in the Bahia State, Brazil]. / Detecção de anticorpos anti-Toxoplasma gondii em suínos criados e abatidos no Estado da Bahia, Brasil.

This study was performed to verify the occurrence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in swine raised and slaughtered in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Four hundred sixty five swine blood samples from farms of different cities had been collected and examined. Anti-T. gondii antibodies was detected by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and considered positive all the animals with equal or bigger headings than 1:16. From these, 18.27% (85/465) of total sample were positive for T. gondii, 30.76% (24) in Ilhéus, 18.10% (21/116) in Itabuna and 14.76% (40/271) in Simões Filho. Significant differences were observed regarding animal sex (p = 0.0171), raising system (p = 0.0002) and origin of the animals (p = 0.0278) in the city of Itabuna. The occurrence of anti-T. gondii antibodies shows that swine can be a source of infection for the local human population.