Micromorganisms: how does Toxoplasma infection damage people's eyes?

October 2, 2019 / BIOON / -- according to statistics, Toxoplasma gondii infection exists in one third of the world's population, which is a common disease leading to eye infection, known as ocular toxoplasmosis Recently, researchers have a new understanding of the mechanism of how Toxoplasma gondii infection causes retinopathy An international team from Flinders University in South Australia and Sao Paulo University in Brazil has identified that infected retinal cells produce a protein that causes uninfected retinal cells to overgrow and form unique lesions In this regard, doctors can diagnose infection according to the expression of protein This is the first study to understand how Toxoplasma gondii infection causes eye lesions in a laboratory environment The results were recently published in the Journal micromorganisms (photo source: www Pixabay Com) Professor Justine Smith, the author of the article, said that the study proved how retinal cells respond to Toxoplasma infection and suggested that the cell response might help the transmission of parasites through the retina "Our findings show that human retinal pigment cells infected with Toxoplasma gondii secrete VEGF and IGF1, and reduce the production of TSP1, thereby promoting the proliferation of uninfected cells, thus making them more susceptible to infection," said Professor Smith It is suggested that the regulation of protein expression in the retina may have therapeutic effect and limit the severity of the disease "The most common form of toxoplasmosis is foodborne, and there is no cure for toxoplasmosis," Dr Furtado suggested Therefore, we suggest that the World Health Organization take some food safety measures, including washing hands before and after cooking, using pure water when preparing food, and cooking properly to prevent infection " Source of information: how nasty Toxoplasma parallel images the human eye original source: shervi lie, B á rbara R Vieira, Sigrid Arruda, Millena SIM õ es, Liam m m Ashander, Jo ã o M Furtado, justice R Smith Molecular basis of the retail segment epithelial changes that characterizes the ocular phase in toxoplasmosis Micro organizations, 2019; 7 (10): 405 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms7100405