Work

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

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Chlamydia pneumoniaecan 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 byC. muridarumhas not been reported in the literature.C. pneumoniaehas been shown to infect the olfactory bulb in mice after intranasal inoculation, and has therefore been suggested to invade the brainviathe olfactory nerve; however, nerve infection has not been shown to date. Another path by which certain bacteria can reach the brain isviathe trigeminal nerve, but it remains unknown whetherChlamydiaspecies can infect this nerve. Other bacteria that can invade the brainviathe olfactory and/or trigeminal nerve can do so rapidly, however, whetherChlamydiaspp. can reach the brain earlier than one-week post inoculation remains unknown. In the current study, we showed thatC. muridarumcan within 48 h invade the brainviathe olfactory nerve, in addition to infecting the trigeminal nerve. We also cultured the glial cells of the olfactory and trigeminal nerves and showed thatC. muridarumreadily 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 toC. muridarum, with olfactory glia showing less infection and stronger immune response than trigeminal glia.

Source: Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.607779