The Influence of Trichinella Spiralis Infection on Heat Shock Protein 72 Production in MRL++ Mouse Intestinal Cells

• Main Author: Kilejian, Lisa Ann
• Format: Others
• Published: PDXScholar 1993
• Subjects: Trichinella spiralis; Heat shock proteins; Immune response; Biology
• Online Access: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4590; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5661&context=open_access_etds

The production of Heat Shock Protein 72, the inducible for~ of the highly conserved 70 kilodalton heat shock protein family, was investigated in MRL++ mouse intestine during the two weeks of a Trichinella spiralis infection. Within hours of an oral infection using the encysted Trichinella spiralis found in the diaphragm of an infected mouse, the larvae are released from the cyst in the stomach. They travel to the intestine and burrow into the epithelial layer of the intestine. The jejunum is the primary site of the intestinal phase of trichinosis (Despommier 1983). This stage of infection in the jejunum was the focus of this study. Heat shock protein (HSP) synthesis is precipitated by stressful stimuli: in vitro by chemicals such as sodium arsenite and in vivo by cytoskeletal disturbance and/or toxic 02 radicals (Linquist 1986). The latter in vivo studies lend support to the inflammatory response induction of HSPs. Heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) is rarely expressed constitutively especially in non-primates and is a good indicator of various stresses. This study hypothesized that HSP72 would be induced by cells in the jejunum of the MRL++ mouse during a Trichinella spiralis infection due to the stress of the parasitic infection. Different techniques were employed to investigate this hypothesis. Immunohistochemistry and immunoblots facilitated this study. Although immunoblots did not demonstrate HSP72 induction, immunohistochemical analysis suggested the presence of HSP72 in various cells in the lamina propria of the jejunal villi.