Abstract
A prominent neuropathological change observed in a murine model of congenital toxoplasmosis
is cerebral cortical hypoplasia. In the early embryonic life of toxoplasmosis mice,
the number of apoptotic cell observed in cerebral cortex is increased, indicating
that increased number of apoptotic cells might relate to the pathogenetic mechanism
of the cortical hypoplasia. Immunohistochemical expression of apoptosis-related factors,
Bcl-2 and Bax has been studied in fetal murine brains infected with toxoplasma and
in controls. Paraffin sections of the fetal brains on embryonic day (ED) 10, 12, 14,
16 and 18 were applied for the immunostains of Bcl-2 and Bax. Totally, 47 experimental
animals (ED10: n=8, ED12: n=6, ED14: n=12, ED16: n=6, ED18: n=15) and 48 control animals (ED10: n=6, ED12: n=8, ED14: n=9, ED16: n=9, ED18: n=16) were examined. Bcl-2 positive cells were detected on ED10, whereas Bax positive
cells appeared on ED14. No difference of Bcl-2 and Bax expression between toxoplasmosis
and control groups was detected, suggesting that there is no clear relation between
Bax-induced apoptosis and cortical dysplasia in congenital toxoplasmosis.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
January 4,
2001
Received in revised form:
November 30,
2000
Received:
July 26,
2000
Identification
Copyright
© 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
