Serological profile of antibodies and isolation of Toxoplasma gondii from eyes donated to the Eye Bank of Ribeirão Preto Medical School.

• Grant number: 18/03193-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2019
• End date: January 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Preventive Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Solange Maria Gennari
• Grantee: Solange Maria Gennari
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Beatriz Melles Cassinelli ; João Marcello Fortes Furtado ; Sidney Julio de Faria e Sousa

Abstract

Ocular toxoplasmosis is caused by Toxoplasma gondii, one of the parasites with the widest distribution in the world. Ocular infection, more precisely retinal, together with the resultant inflammatory reaction, is the mais manifestation of the disease in humans, and can lead to blindness even in immunocompetent individuals. One of the factors that can explain the increased prevalence and severity of ocular lesions in Brasil is the bigger virulence of T. gondii strains compared to those found in other countries. These strains were isolated almost exclusively from wild and domestic animals, and there is a shortage of viable isolates from infected humans. Most studies on this topic rely on DNA genotyping from infected subjects, without the isolation of any living form of the parasite that could be used for in vitro studies. Because of that, it is extremely relevant to isolate viable forms of the T. gondii that can be cultivated and studied in vitro, from infected individuals presenting ocular lesions attributed to the parasite. In the present study, we will determine the seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies in eye donors from the Eye Bank of Ribeirão Preto Medicine School (USP), and the characteristics of ocular lesions attributed to T. gondii and isolation in mouse of the parasites that may be present within the dissected ocular tissues. (AU)