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Ryan Salvador , B. S., Biology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI Trypanosoma cruzi seriously damages the tissues it infects, especially those of the peripheral nervous system, yet large percentages (60-70%) of chronically infected patients remain asymptomatic for years or decades. Recently, our lab showed that PDNF stimulates the expression of the cholinergic genes choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), important for the synthesis and storage of acetylcholine (ACh), respectively, in PC12 neuronal cells. ACh plays an important role in the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway and inhibits systemic levels of the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNFα). I am studying whether T. cruzi infection of the central nervous system stimulates, via PDNF, cholinergic gene expression of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, thereby inhibiting systemic TNFα levels as a mechanism to control inflammation. |
