Authors

Discussion

Human African trypanosomiasis develops in two distinct phases: the haemo-lymphatic stage followed by the CNS-stage. In the present study, we investigated the role of adenosine receptors in the development of CNS stage disease using a murine model of the infection. We determined the effect of NECA (0.08mg/kg i.p.), a non-specific adenosine receptor agonist, on blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability using small bore contrast-enhanced MRI. The effect of NECA treatment on brain trypanosome load and neuroinflammatory response was also determined. Additionally, we investigated the adenosine receptor expression profile in infected and uninfected groups of mice with and without NECA treatment.

Our results indicate that NECA treatment induces BBB leakage in uninfected mice. In infected mice, neither brain trypanosome load nor the severity of the neuroinflammatory response were significantly altered by adenosine receptor activation. However, alterations to the adenosine receptor expression profile were detected following infection.

Further studies are required to fully elucidate the role of adenosine receptors in the progression of trypanosome infection to CNS-stage disease.