ausative Agents of American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis Are Able to Infect 3T3-L1 Adipocytes In Vitr

Author(s)

Mendes, Bruno ^[1] ; Minori, Karen ^[1] ; Consonni, Silvio R. ^[2] ; Andrews, Norma W. ^[3] ; Miguel, Danilo C. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] State Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Inst Biol, Dept Anim Biol, Campinas - Brazil

^[2] State Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Inst Biol, Dept Biochem & Tissue Biol, Campinas - Brazil

^[3] Univ Maryland, Dept Cell Biol & Mol Genet, College Pk, MD 20742 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY; v. 12, FEB 4 2022.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Although macrophages have long been considered key players in the course of Leishmania infections, other non-professional phagocytes have lately been shown to maintain low levels of the parasite in safe intracellular niches. Recently, it was demonstrated that the adipose tissue is capable of harboring Old World L. (L.) infantum in mice. However, there is no evidence of experimental adipocyte infection with New World Leishmania species so far. In addition, it was not known whether adipocytes would be permissive for formation of the unique, large and communal parasitophorous vacuoles that are typical of L. (L.) amazonensis in macrophages. Here we evaluated the ability of L. (L.) amazonensis and L. (V.) braziliensis promastigotes and amastigotes to infect 3T3-L1 fibroblast-derived adipocytes (3T3-Ad) using light and transmission electron microscopy. Our results indicate that amastigotes and promastigotes of both species were capable of infecting and surviving inside pre- and fully differentiated 3T3-Ad for up to 144 h. Importantly, L. (L.) amazonensis amastigotes resided in large communal parasitophorous vacuoles in pre-adipocytes, which appeared to be compressed between large lipid droplets in mature adipocytes. In parallel, individual L. (V.) braziliensis amastigotes were detected in single vacuoles 144 h post-infection. We conclude that 3T3-Ad may constitute an environment that supports low loads of viable parasites perhaps contributing to parasite maintenance, since amastigotes of both species recovered from these cells differentiated into replicative promastigotes. Our findings shed light on the potential of a new host cell model that can be relevant to the persistence of New World Leishmania species. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/17902-2 - Modulation of fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) levels in macrophages infected with Leishmania spp.
• Grantee: Karen Caroline Minori Vieira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 14/21129-4 - The role of fatty acid-binding proteins in the macrophage infection by Leishmania: a potential target for new drugs against leishmaniasis
• Grantee: Danilo Ciccone Miguel
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/21720-2 - Role of Z disc proteins in homeostasis and pathological hypertrophy of cardiac myocytes
• Grantee: Sílvio Roberto Consonni
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants