Establishment of an in vitro oocyst culture system and infection model of Toxoplasma gondii
(2021) MOBN03 20202Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
- Popular Abstract
- How to study the infection of a parasite without using cats
During the past 9 months, I have been studying a parasite, more specifically, how we can study the life of this parasite in the lab without using lab animals like mice or cats. I have tried and achieved to developed a way to do so, with mouse cells and a special fatty acid
A parasite is a type of organism that depends on another living entity (cell or organism) to survive. Some parasites can only be seen with a microscope, but other are much bigger, like ticks or mosquitos. However, parasites are much closely related to us, humans because we share with them more characteristics in our cells. This relationship between parasite and infected organism (the host) is harmful for... (More) - How to study the infection of a parasite without using cats
During the past 9 months, I have been studying a parasite, more specifically, how we can study the life of this parasite in the lab without using lab animals like mice or cats. I have tried and achieved to developed a way to do so, with mouse cells and a special fatty acid
A parasite is a type of organism that depends on another living entity (cell or organism) to survive. Some parasites can only be seen with a microscope, but other are much bigger, like ticks or mosquitos. However, parasites are much closely related to us, humans because we share with them more characteristics in our cells. This relationship between parasite and infected organism (the host) is harmful for the host, causing human diseases. For example, a very well-known parasite is the one that causes malaria. In my case, I have been working with a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. It is a well-known parasite for cat-owners as the parasite uses felines as hosts for a large part of its development. It is also very dangerous for pregnant women, since the parasite can cross the placenta, leading to deadly consequences for the fetus. The parasite is transmitted through ingestion of contaminated meat, food or water. It travels to the gut, where it crosses the intestine barrier, spreads throughout the organism and chronically infects different organs
Right now, the only way to study this parasite is using either live mice or felines, more concretely cats or any cell derived from cats. This is because the parasite spends a very important part of its life in the cat, where it changes and creates new forms. These changes can only take place in felines and the reason was unknown until some years ago. Now, thanks to the discovery of the reason for the parasite’s tendency for cats, we can copy how the environment in the cat’s gut is in the lab. My research is focused on creating a way to study this parasite in the lab without using live animals, only with cells and parasites, and be able to copy and understand the changes that only occur in the cat.
After learning how to take care of different cells I needed for my project, including cells from human muscle, skin or mouse gut, I started to develop and test my aim. In a simple way, I managed to produce parasite cells that I needed to infect the copy of the cat’s environment I created. In parallel, I also created the environment that the parasites need to infect, change and live with mouse cells, instead of cats. All of these was already developed before I came to the lab, thanks to the help of my department colleagues and supervisor. What I did specifically was to merge the two elements: the parasite production system and the environment for its development. What’s more, I added to this mix a special fatty acid, a molecule that the parasite need to fully change and develop. Without this fatty acid, the parasite cannot change and my idea to study it in the lab would not work. So, the infection model was tested with produced parasites in the lab and adding this special fatty acid to the mouse cells that will be infected.
The results prove that this system has worked to some extend. Images taken of the cells and the parasite show that the parasite has started to change, to develop into these forms that only can take place in the cat. However, the process was not completed. The parasite did not achieve complete development. Nevertheless, this created infection and cell system remains a very promising way to study the parasite in the lab.
Master’s Degree Project in Molecular Biology 60 credits 2020-2021
Department of Biology, Lund University
Advisor: Dr. Prof. Frank Seeber
FG16: Mycotic and parasitic agents and Mycobacteria. Department 1: Infectious diseases. Robert-Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9061228
- author
- Bobis Camacho, Julian
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MOBN03 20202
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9061228
- date added to LUP
- 2021-07-07 15:08:52
- date last changed
- 2021-07-07 15:08:52
@misc{9061228,
author = {{Bobis Camacho, Julian}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Establishment of an in vitro oocyst culture system and infection model of Toxoplasma gondii}},
year = {{2021}},
}