Chlamydia muridarum Can Invade the Central Nervous System via the Olfactory and Trigeminal Nerves and Infect Peripheral Nerve Glial Cells.

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Nazareth, Lynn
Walkden, Heidi
Chacko, Anu
Delbaz, Ali
Shelper, Todd
Armitage, Charles W
Reshamwala, Ronak
Trim, Logan K
St John, James A
Beagley, Kenneth W
Ekberg, Jenny AK
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2020
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Abstract

Chlamydia pneumoniae can infect the brain and has been linked to late-onset dementia. Chlamydia muridarum, which infects mice, is often used to model human chlamydial infections. While it has been suggested to be also important for modelling brain infection, nervous system infection by C. muridarum has not been reported in the literature. C. pneumoniae has been shown to infect the olfactory bulb in mice after intranasal inoculation, and has therefore been suggested to invade the brain via the olfactory nerve; however, nerve infection has not been shown to date. Another path by which certain bacteria can reach the brain is via the trigeminal nerve, but it remains unknown whether Chlamydia species can infect this nerve. Other bacteria that can invade the brain via the olfactory and/or trigeminal nerve can do so rapidly, however, whether Chlamydia spp. can reach the brain earlier than one-week post inoculation remains unknown. In the current study, we showed that C. muridarum can within 48 h invade the brain via the olfactory nerve, in addition to infecting the trigeminal nerve. We also cultured the glial cells of the olfactory and trigeminal nerves and showed that C. muridarum readily infected the cells, constituting a possible cellular mechanism explaining how the bacteria can invade the nerves without being eliminated by glial immune functions. Further, we demonstrated that olfactory and trigeminal glia differed in their responses to C. muridarum, with olfactory glia showing less infection and stronger immune response than trigeminal glia.

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Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

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10

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© 2021 Nazareth, Walkden, Chacko, Delbaz, Shelper, Armitage, Reshamwala, Trim, St John, Beagley and Ekberg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Biochemistry and cell biology

Microbiology

Medical microbiology

Chlamydia

Schwann cell

amyloid

bacteria

cytokine

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Nazareth, L; Walkden, H; Chacko, A; Delbaz, A; Shelper, T; Armitage, CW; Reshamwala, R; Trim, LK; St John, JA; Beagley, KW; Ekberg, JAK, Chlamydia muridarum Can Invade the Central Nervous System via the Olfactory and Trigeminal Nerves and Infect Peripheral Nerve Glial Cells, Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 2020, 10, pp. 607779

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