Issue |
Parasite
Volume 28, 2021
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 68 | |
Number of page(s) | 7 | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2021066 | |
Published online | 07 October 2021 |
Research Article
Effect of household bleach on the structure of the sporocyst wall of Toxoplasma gondii
Effet de l’eau de Javel à usage domestique sur la structure de la paroi du sporocyste de Toxoplasma gondii
1
Aix Marseille Univ, IRD, AP-HM, SSA, VITROME, 13005 Marseille, France
2
IHU-Méditerranée Infection, 13005 Marseille, France
3
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, 20705-2350 MD, United States
4
Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Science, Oxford Brookes University, OX3 0FL Oxford, United Kingdom
5
Nuffield Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, OX3 9DU Oxford, United Kingdom
* Corresponding author: aurelien.dumetre@univ-amu.fr
Received:
25
March
2021
Accepted:
19
September
2021
Toxoplasma gondii oocysts are responsible for food- and water-borne infections in humans worldwide. They are resistant to common chemical disinfectants, including chlorinated products, presumably due to the structure and molecular nature of the oocyst wall but also the sporocyst wall. In this study, we used fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy to characterise the structure of both the oocyst and sporocyst walls, exposed to household bleach. Bleach removed the outer layer of the oocyst wall and the outer layer of the wall of sporocysts exposed due to rupture of the oocyst wall. The loss of the outer sporocyst wall layer was associated with a decrease in its autofluorescence, which can be linked to the degradation of dityrosine cross-link proteins, and loss of Maclura pomifera lectin-reactive glycoproteins. This study suggests that the inner layers of the oocyst and sporocyst walls are the main structures responsible for the resistance of the parasite to household bleach.
Résumé
Les oocystes de Toxoplasma gondii sont responsables chez l’homme d’infections cosmopolites d’origine alimentaire et hydrique. Ils sont résistants aux désinfectants chimiques usuels, notamment aux produits chlorés, vraisemblablement en raison de la structure et de la nature moléculaire de la paroi de l’oocyste mais aussi de celle du sporocyste. Dans cette étude, nous avons utilisé la microscopie à fluorescence et la microscopie électronique à transmission pour caractériser la structure de la paroi des oocystes et des sporocystes exposés à l’eau de Javel à usage domestique. L’eau de Javel élimine la couche externe de la paroi de l’oocyste et la couche externe de la paroi des sporocystes exposés en raison de la rupture de la paroi de l’oocyste. La perte de la couche externe de la paroi du sporocyste est associée à une diminution de son autofluorescence, qui peut être liée à la dégradation de polymères protéiques de dityrosine, et à une perte des glycoprotéines réactives à la lectine Maclura pomifera. Cette étude suggère que les couches internes des parois de l’oocyste et du sporocyste sont les principales structures responsables de la résistance du parasite à l’eau de Javel à usage domestique.
Key words: Toxoplasma gondii / Oocyst / Sporocyst / Wall / Bleach / Resistance
© A. Dumètre et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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