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Freire RDP, Fonseca FRM, Rodrigues de Castro NL, Lima CXM, Ribeiro-Romão RP, Cavalcante DIM, Teixeira CR, Gomes R, Da-Cruz AM, Teixeira MJ. Different inoculum of Leishmania braziliensis concentrations influence immunopathogenesis and clinical evolution in the ear dermis hamster model of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Parasite Immunol 2022; 44:e12947. [PMID: 36057920 DOI: 10.1111/pim.12947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is commonly used as a promising model for Leishmania braziliensis infection developing skin-ulcerated lesions. However, different protocols using high concentration of parasites inoculated in the footpad result in severe clinical disease. Here, we further investigate the outcome of the site of infection and concentration of L. braziliensis parasites inoculated on the immunopathogenesis and clinical evolution. Initially, hamsters were infected in the ear dermis or hind footpad with a concentration of 1x105 parasites. Animals infected in the ear dermis developed a disease, with an increased parasite load that more closely resembled human CL lesions comparing to the group infected in the footpad. Next, we evaluated if different parasite concentrations (104 , 105 and 106 ) inoculated in the ear dermis would impact the course and clinical aspects of infection. Hamsters infected with 104 and 105 parasites developed mild lesions compared to the group infected with 106 that presented severe and persistent lesions. The parasite load varied between the different parasite concentrations. The inflammatory response was more intense when infection was initiated with 106 parasites accompanied by an increased initial expression of IL-4, IL-10 and arginase in the lymph node followed by expression of both pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines comparing to groups infected with 104 and 105 parasites. In conclusion, the number of parasites inoculated, and the initial site of infection could influence the inflammatory response, and clinical presentation. Our results suggest that the ear dermis infection model induces a chronic disease that relate to immunopathological aspects of CL natural infection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Regis Gomes
- FIOCRUZ Ceará, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Eusébio, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Alda Maria Da-Cruz
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.,Disciplina de Parasitologia, DMIP-Faculdade de Ciencias Médicas, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Maria Jania Teixeira
- Department of Pathology and Legal Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
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Paiva MB, Ribeiro-Romão RP, Resende-Vieira L, Braga-Gomes T, Oliveira MP, Saavedra AF, Silva-Couto L, Albuquerque HG, Moreira OC, Pinto EF, Da-Cruz AM, Gomes-Silva A. A Cytokine Network Balance Influences the Fate of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis Infection in a Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Hamster Model. Front Immunol 2021; 12:656919. [PMID: 34276650 PMCID: PMC8281932 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.656919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The golden hamster is a suitable model for studying cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) due to Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis. Immunopathological mechanisms are well established in the L. (L.) major-mouse model, in which IL-4 instructs a Th2 response towards progressive infection. In the present study, we evaluated the natural history of L. braziliensis infection from its first stages up to lesion establishment, with the aim of identifying immunological parameters associated with the disease outcome and parasitism fate. To this end, hamsters infected with 104, 105, or 106 promastigotes were monitored during the first hours (4h, 24h), early (15 days, 30 days) and late (50 days) post-infection (pi) phases. Cytokines, iNOS and arginase gene expression were quantified in the established lesions by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Compared to the 105 or 106 groups, 104 animals presented lower lesions sizes, less tissue damage, and lower IgG levels. Basal gene expression in normal skin was high for TGF-β, and intermediary for TNF, IL-6, and IL-4. At 4hpi, no cytokine induction was observed in the 104 group, while an upregulation of IL-6, IL-10, and IL-4 was observed in the 106 group. At 15dpi, lesion appearance was accompanied by an increased expression of all assessed cytokines, markedly in the 105 and 106 groups. Upregulation of all investigated cytokines was observed in the late phase, although less expressive in the 104 group. IFN-γ was the depending variable influencing tissue damage, while IL-6 was associated to parasite load. The network correlating gene expression and clinical and laboratorial parameters indicated inoculum-independent associations at 15 and 30dpi. A strong positive network correlation was observed in the 104 group, but not in the 105 or 106 groups. In conclusion, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and TGF-β are linked o L. braziliensis progression. However, a balanced cytokine network is the key for an immune response able to reduce the ongoing infection and reduce pathological damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milla B Paiva
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Larissa Resende-Vieira
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Thais Braga-Gomes
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Marcia P Oliveira
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Andrea F Saavedra
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Luzinei Silva-Couto
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Hermano G Albuquerque
- Laboratório de Transmissores de Hematozoários, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Otacilio C Moreira
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular e Doenças Endêmicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Fonseca Pinto
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,Rede de Pesquisas em Saúde do Estado do Rio de Janeiro/FAPERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Alda Maria Da-Cruz
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,Rede de Pesquisas em Saúde do Estado do Rio de Janeiro/FAPERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,Disciplina de Parasitologia-DMIP, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,The National Institute of Science and Technology on Neuroimmunomodulation (INCT-NIM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Adriano Gomes-Silva
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.,Laboratório de Pesquisa Clínica em Micobacterioses, Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Ribeiro-Romão RP, Saavedra AF, Da-Cruz AM, Pinto EF, Moreira OC. Development of real-time PCR assays for evaluation of immune response and parasite load in golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) infected by Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis. Parasit Vectors 2016; 9:361. [PMID: 27350537 PMCID: PMC4924296 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-016-1647-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2015] [Accepted: 06/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from small cutaneous nodules to severe mucosal tissue destruction. Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis is the main species attributed to CL in the Americas. However, studies of experimental infection are limited in the murine model due to the self-resolutive pattern of the disease. Previously, our group demonstrated that the hamster model reproduces many of the clinical and histopathological features observed in humans. Herein, we standardized a RT-qPCR gene expression assay to evaluate a panel of immunological markers and a qPCR assay in order to quantify with high sensitivity and reproducibility the parasite load in skin lesions. Methods Hamsters were intradermally infected in the footpad with 105 promastigotes of L. (V.) braziliensis and 110 days post-infection skin lesions and popliteal lymph nodes were removed for RNA and DNA extraction, both from the same tissue fragment. Gene expression of IFN-ɣ, IL-10, TGF-β TNF, IL-4, IL-6, iNOS and arginase were measured using non-infected animal tissue as a calibrator. Parasite load was quantified from DNA extracted from lesions by qPCR targeting Leishmania kDNA and normalized by hamster GAPDH, using a SYBR Green-based absolute quantification methodology. Results A relative quantification RT-qPCR assay was standardized for the evaluation of mRNA levels from skin and lymph node samples of golden hamsters, with PCR efficiencies ranging from 92.3 to 116.4 %. In uninfected animals, higher basal mRNA levels in lymph nodes were observed for IFN-ɣ, TGF-β, TNF and IL-4 (111.4 ± 92.2; 5.6 ± 1.2; 5.3 ± 1.7; and 60.3 ± 26.8, respectively) in comparison to skin. In golden hamsters infected with L. (V.) braziliensis, an increase in the expression of all immunological markers evaluated was observed, ranging from 2.7 ± 0.2 for TGF-β to 1018.5 ± 809.0 for iNOS in skin lesions, and 2.4 ± 1.6 for TGF-β to 600.2 ± 666.4 for iNOS in popliteal lymph nodes. Interestingly, significantly higher levels of IFN-ɣ, TNF and IL-10 mRNA were observed in skin in comparison to lymph nodes, while a lower significant level of arginase mRNA was observed in skin. In parallel, parasite loads were quantified by qPCR from the skin lesions of infected animals, ranging from 27.0 to 6647.0, with a median of 553.4 (416.7–1504.0) parasites/mg skin equivalents, whereas lesion size varied from 0.3 to 3.1 mm. Despite the tendency of larger lesions to present higher parasite load, the correlation observed was not statistically significant. Conclusions In this study, we describe for the first time a sensitive, reproducible and cheaper molecular assay to quantify from the same tissue fragment the gene expression of immunological markers and the parasite load in skin lesions, observing a mixed profile of immune response in the hamster model infected by L. (V.) braziliensis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1647-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrea Franco Saavedra
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Alda Maria Da-Cruz
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Fonseca Pinto
- Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Pesquisas Médicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Otacilio C Moreira
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular e Doenças Endêmicas, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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