Detection of dynorphin A, TNF-alpha and TNF receptors during Borna disease virus infection in neuronal and glial cell cultures

• Grant number: 11/21415-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Gisele Fabrino Machado
• Grantee: Guilherme Dias de Melo
• Supervisor: Christiane Herden
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/12473-2 - Evaluation of cytokines gene expression in the brain of dogs with visceral leishmaniasis, BP.MS

Abstract

Borna disease virus (BDV) is a neurotropic virus that causes a progressive non-suppurative meningoencephalitis with viral persistence within the central nervous system. The main natural hosts are horses and sheep; however, many species can be experimentally infected. The experimental BDV infection in TNF-± transgenic mice is an important model to study the neuro-immune interactions and the pattern of nervous cells alterations in the induction of seizures. Dysregulation of neuromodulatory systems, such as dynorphin, has already been described in humans with epilepsy and in some in vivo studies with experimental infection in animals. With the establishment of an in vitro model, further studies can be performed to better understand the interactions among a multifunctional cytokine such as TNF-±, a neuromodulatory component such as dynorphin, and virus-infected brain cells populations. With this aim, we propose the investigation of dynorphin-A production using western blot, and the gene expression of TNF-± and of TNF receptors (TNFR1 and TNFR2) using RT-qPCR, in in vitro BDV-infected neuronal and glial cell cultures. (AU)