title: Gender-associated differential expression of cytokines in specific areas of the brain during helminth infection.
abstract: Intraperitoneal infection with Taenia crassiceps cysticerci in mice alters several behaviors, including sexual, aggressive, and cognitive function. Cytokines and their receptors are produced in the central nervous system (CNS) by specific neural cell lineages under physiological and pathological conditions, regulating such processes as neurotransmission. This study is aimed to determine the expression patterns of cytokines in various areas of the brain in normal and T. crassiceps-infected mice in both genders and correlate them with the pathology of the CNS and parasite counts. IL-4, IFN-γ, and TNF-α levels in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb increased significantly in infected male mice, but IL-6 was downregulated in these regions in female mice. IL-1β expression in the hippocampus was unaffected by infection in either gender. Our novel findings demonstrate a clear gender-associated pattern of cytokine expression in specific areas of the brain in mammals that parasitic infection can alter. Thus, we hypothesize that intraperitoneal infection is sensed by the CNS of the host, wherein cytokines are important messengers in the host-parasite neuroimmunoendocrine network.
authors.affiliation: 1 Departamento de Inmunología, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México , Mexico City, México .
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: López-Griego
authors.forename: Karen Elizabeth
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Nava-Castro
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: López-Salazar
authors.forename: Rosalía
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hernández-Cervantes
authors.forename: Nelly
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tiempos Guzmán
authors.forename: Saé
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muñiz-Hernández
authors.forename: Romel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hernández-Bello
authors.forename: Hugo O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Besedovsky
authors.forename: Lenin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pavón
authors.forename: Luis Enrique
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Becerril Villanueva
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morales-Montor
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D020019:Neurocysticercosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013621:Taenia / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines