Parasitic Infection Induces Changes in Distribution and Expression of FMRFα and its Receptor in Central Ganglia of b. Glabrata, the intermediate host of Schistosomiasis
Authors: Vicente‐Rodríguez Laura Cristina , Rolón‐Martínez Solymar , Méndez‐De Jesús Paola , Ramírez‐Santiago Cayra , Hernández‐Vázquez Anthony , Rosa‐Casillas Mariela , Rosenthal Joshua , Miller Mark W. 
Published: June 2021

Shistosomiasis is a disease of major concern for global health and socioeconomics. This neglected tropical disease represents a burden for diverse societies including Africa, Asia, and South America. It is estimated that more than 240 million people required preventive treatment of praziquantel in 2014, and hundreds of thousands are at death risk annually. Schistosoma Mansoni is the trematode specie that causes the most widespread form of intestinal schistosomiasis, its complex life cycle requires two host organisms: snails from specific genus like biomphalaria Glabrata as the intermediary host and humans as its definitive host. This means that preventive chemotherapy alone is not sufficient to control the spread of this disease, and snail control is also an important target to be considered. More research is needed to fully understand the parasite‐host relationship between B. Glabrata and S. Mansoni with the ultimate goal of identifying effective ways to disrupt it. Host snails suffer important physiological and behavioral changes upon parasitic infection, but the neural component involved in these changes are yet to be identified. Neuropeptides are small bioactive signaling molecules that are involved in the neuromodulation of vital physiological processes, therefore they are identified as potential changing agents during parasitic infection. In this study we will focus on the neuropeptide FMRFamide because it is highly abundant in the b. Glabrata CNS and is involved in a variety of physiological activities that have been shown to be affected by parasitosis such as reproduction, muscle contraction, feeding, locomotion and even glucose metabolism. FMRFamide has two types of receptors, a G‐coupled receptor and a peptide gated sodium channel (FaNaC), which is unique for this phyla and is not expressed in mammals. The distribution of FaNaC in b. Glabrata central ganglia and their potential as target for chemotherapy or molluscicide development remains unknown. In this study we performed Immunohistochemistry and Dotblots experiments to determine how this peptide and the FaNaC receptor distribution and expression are affected by parasitic infection. Our results showed a change in the pattern of distribution of this peptide and its receptor in the central ganglia of b. Glabrata as well as in their levels of expression. Our goal is to contribute to the understanding of the neural components involved in the physiological changes observed in b. Glabrata during parasitic infection. This investigation may identify FMRFa peptide signaling as an effective and selective target for b. Glabrata control.Support or Funding InformationNational Intitute of Health: RCMI MD007600, MBRS GM087200, National Science Foundation: DBI ‐1337284, HRD‐1137725. OISE1545803; National Academy of Sciences (NAS; USA): U.S.‐ Egypt Sicence and Technology (S&T) Joint Fund 2000007152; Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF, Egypt): USC17‐188; MBRS‐RISE‐ R25GM061838; RISE‐5R25GM061151‐16This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.