Toxoplasma gondii: Myenteric neurons of intraperitoneally inoculated rats show quantitative and morphometric alterations

Morphometric evaluation of myenteric neuronal body cell of rats infected intraperitoneally with Toxoplasma gondii. [Display omitted] ► Rats infected intraperitoneally with Toxoplasma gondii show alterations of their myenteric plexus. ► These alterations are different in the small and large intestine. ► Toxoplasma gondii causes death of myenteric neurons in some parts of gut. ► Most myenteric neurons present morphometric alterations because of toxoplasmic infection. Several studies have demonstrated that the myenteric plexus experiences quantitative and morphometric changes in rats inoculated orally with Toxoplasma gondii. This paper aims to verify if these alterations are also seen when the same animals are inoculated intraperitoneally with the parasite. In order to do that, six Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus) 60days of age were infected intraperitoneally with 106 tachyzoites of a genotype I T. gondii strain (BTU IV). After 60 days, the animals were anaesthetised and underwent laparotomy. All organs from the small and large intestines were removed, measured, dissected and underwent whole-mount Giemsa technique to stain the neurons in the myenteric plexus. A quantitative and morphometric analysis of these cells was made, and it showed that the parasite causes the death of myenteric neurons in the jejunum and morphometric alterations in these cells throughout the intestine. However, the cellular response of myenteric neurons to T. gondii is heterogeneous compared the different organs from the gut.