Cryptosporidium infection impairs growth and muscular protein synthesis in suckling rats

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the metabolic consequences of cryptosporidiosis in an acute experimental model both at the peak of infection and after parasite clearance. Four-day-old suckling rats were infected with 10(6) oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum. At the peak of infection (day 8 PI), C. parvum resulted in a dramatic reduction both in nutrient intake (-50%) and body weight (16.3+/-5.2 vs 27.3+/-1.0 g, P<0.01) with a decrease in both lean body mass and adipose tissue. Muscular fractional and absolute synthesis rate were reduced (-15 and -55%, respectively). After parasite clearance (day 17 PI), body weight remained reduced in formerly infected animals (37.8+/-8.0 vs 47.8+/-4.2 g, P<0.01) whereas nutrient intake normalized and fractional synthesis rate slightly increased (+22%) compared to controls. Overall, our results show that the impact and consequences of cryptosporidiosis are far greater than generally appreciated, leading to major malnutrition in suckling rats.

Development of an untargeted metabolomics method for the analysis of human faecal samples using Cryptosporidium-infected samples

“…The higher abundance of phenylalanine, valine, isoleucine and serine in the positive samples may be due to increased intestinal epithelium permeability in Cryptosporidium infected individuals, as well as intracellular protein catabolism [22][23][24]. This leads not only to a change in amino acid metabolism, but also to alterations in nitrogen metabolism and the urea cycle, as observed with significantly higher N-acetylglutamic acid and urea present in positive samples (p < 0.05).…”

Cryptosporidium parvumIsolate-Dependent Postinfectious Jejunal Hypersensitivity and Mast Cell Accumulation in an Immunocompetent Rat Model

“…Suckling rats were orally gavaged with 100 l of PBS containing 10 5 oocysts of NoI or IoI (100 l of PBS in control rats), which resulted in preliminary experiments in a maximum ileal parasite burden and onset of clearance of parasite at days 6 to 8 p.i. and 14 p.i, respectively (54). Another group were gavaged with a solution of NSCE corresponding to 10 5 oocysts.…”

Evidence for intestinal heterogenic expression of di-tripeptides transporter PepT1 during experimental cryptosporidiosis in neonatal rats

“…Previously we developed a model of acute cryptosporidiosis in the suckling rat, in which C. parvum induces marked villous atrophy, reduced amino acid absorption, and impaired growth and muscular protein synthesis, thus leading to growth failure, as observed during natural infection (Capet et al 1999;Topouchian et al 2003Topouchian et al , 2005. As the main products of protein digestion in the gut lumen are dipeptides and tripeptides rather than amino acids, we evaluated their absorption in our model.…”