The following studies were undertaken with the aim of investigating changes in brain metabolism that might account for Toxoplasma gondii induced behavioural modifications in BALB/c mice. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (LCMS) analyses of brains from infected and control mice detected 783 putative metabolites. A number of metabolic pathways were found to be altered in the brains of infected mice relative to control uninfected mice including the Citrate cycle, Glycolysis, Arginine metabolism, Tryptophan metabolism and Purine metabolism. The upregulation of metabolites in glycolysis and the citrate cycle is indicative of the extra energy requirements of an immune response. As nitric oxide (NO) has been demonstrated to play a protective role during T. gondii infection arginine metabolism was explored in this study. No consistent significant differences in arginine, argininosuccinate, citrulline, ornithine or proline were detected. A number of metabolites resulting from Tryptophan degradation including formyl-kynurenine, kynurenine, indolelactate, and quinolinic acid were consistently raised in the brains of infected mice relative to control mice. Formyl-kynurenine, kynurenine and indolelactate were significantly raised throughout both experimental runs at 4 weeks post-infection (p
| Date of Award | 2 Nov 2015 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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