RT Journal Article
T1 Modeling the Ruminant Placenta-Pathogen Interactions in Apicomplexan Parasites: Current and Future Perspectives
A1 Jiménez-Pelayo, Laura
A1 Pastor Fernández, Iván
A1 Collantes Fernández, Esther
A1 Ortega Mora, Luis Miguel
A1 Horcajo Iglesias, María Del Pilar
AB Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii are one of the main concerns of the livestock sector as they cause important economic losses in ruminants due to the reproductive failure. It is well-known that the interaction of these parasites with the placenta determines the course of infection, leading to fetal death or parasite transmission to the offspring. However, to advance the development of effective vaccines and treatments, there are still important gaps on knowledge on the placental host-parasite interactions that need to be addressed. Ruminant animal models are still an indispensable tool for providing a global view of the pathogenesis, lesions, and immune responses, but their utilization embraces important economic and ethics restrictions. Alternative in vitro systems based on caruncular and trophoblast cells, the key cellular components of placentomes, have emerged in the last years, but their use can only offer a partial view of the processes triggered after infection as they cannot mimic the complex placental architecture and neglect the activity of resident immune cells. These drawbacks could be solved using placental explants, broadly employed in human medicine, and able to preserve its cellular architecture and function. Despite the availability of such materials is constrained by their short shelf-life, the development of adequate cryopreservation protocols could expand their use for research purposes. Herein, we review and discuss existing (and potential) in vivo, in vitro, and ex vivo ruminant placental models that have proven useful to unravel the pathogenic mechanisms and the host immune responses responsible for fetal death (or protection) caused by neosporosis and toxoplasmosis.
PB Frontiers Media
SN 2297-1769
YR 2021
FD 2021-01-21
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96396
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96396
LA eng
NO Author ContributionsAll authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
NO Comunidad de Madrid (P2018/BAA-4370; 2018T2/BIO10170)
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid (PR65/19-22457)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025