No abstract

Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan, is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis, which can cause serious public health problems. The current drugs used to treat toxoplasmosis have many limitations. This study evaluated the anti-T. gondii activity and potential mechanism of Licochalcone A (Lico A) in vitro and in vivo. The safe concentration of Lico A in HFF cells was determined by MTT cell viability assays. The presence of T. gondii was assessed by qPCR and Giemsa staining. Azithromycin and sulfadiazine, commonly used effective treatments, served as drug controls. T. gondii ultrastructural alterations were observed by electron microscopy. The anti-T. gondii activity of Lico A was evaluated using an in vivo mouse infection model. In vitro, Lico A had no negative effect on host cell viability at concentrations below 9 μg/mL; however, it did inhibit T. gondii proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.848 μg/mL. Electron microscopy analyses indicated substantial structural and ultrastructural changes in tachyzoites after Lico A treatment. Nile Red staining assays demonstrated that Lico A caused lipid accumulation. Lico A treatment significantly increased the survival rate of BALB/c mice infected with T. gondii. Lico A achieved the same therapeutic effect as a commonly used clinical drugs (combination of sulfadiazine, pyrimethamine and folinic acid). In conclusion, Lico A has strong anti-T. gondii activity in vitro and in vivo and might be developed into a new anti-T. gondii drug. Moreover, Lico A may exert these effects by interfering with lipid metabolism in the parasite.

Since the gravitational waves were detected by LIGO and Virgo, it has been promising that lots of information about the primordial Universe could be learned by further observations on stochastic gravitational waves background. The studies on gravitational waves induced by primordial curvature perturbations are of great interest. The aim of this paper is to investigate the third order induced gravitational waves. Based on the theory of cosmological perturbations, the first order scalar induces the second order scalar, vector and tensor perturbations. At the next iteration, the first order scalar, the second order scalar, vector and tensor perturbations all induce the third order tensor perturbations. We present the two point function 〈h λ,(3) h λ',(3)〉 and corresponding energy density spectrum of the third order gravitational waves for a monochromatic primordial power spectrum. The shape of the energy density spectrum of the third order gravitational waves is different from that of the second order scalar induced gravitational waves. And it is found that the third order gravitational waves sourced by the second order scalar perturbations dominate the two point function 〈h λ,(3) h λ',(3)〉 and corresponding energy density spectrum of third order scalar induced gravitational waves.