Relationship between Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and acoustic startle response in an inner-city population

Massa, Nicholas; Duncan, Erica; Jovanović, Tanja; Kerley, Kimberly; Weng, Lei; Gensler, Lauren; Lee, Samuel S.; Norrholm, Seth D.; Powers, Abigail; Almli, Lynn M.; Gillespie, Charles F.; Ressler, Kerry J.; Pearce, Bradley D.

doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2016.11.021

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 68 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…According to Fig 2, the lowest and highest ORs are related to the studies performed by Massa et al . [46] and Conejero-Goldberg et al . [22], respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Is there any association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and depression? A systematic review and meta-analysis

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Toxoplasma gondii ( T . gondii ) is an obligate intracellular opportunistic parasite that is the causative agent of toxoplasmosis. This parasite accounts for mental disorders; however, the relationship between T . gondii infection and depressive disorder is unclear. Regarding this, the present systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the scientific evidence regarding the potential association between major depression disorder (MDD) and Toxoplasma infection. Methods For the purpose of the study, the articles related to the subject of interest were systematically searched in seven electronic databases. Special attention was given to the studies examining T . gondii seropositivity level in depressed patients and controls. Results The search process resulted in the identification of a total of 30 publications meeting the inclusion criteria and published up to April 2018 for the systematic review. Furthermore, 29 studies met the inclusion criteria to be entered into meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis involved the review of cross-sectional studies including 1657 depressed patients and 19565 individuals as controls and case-control studies entailing 1311 depressed cases and 6015 controls without depression. 1582 depressed people participated in cross-sectional studies whose results were reported as odds ratio (OR). In addition, the total number of participants was 15068 in this type of studies. Statistical analysis indicated that the pooled OR of the risk of anti- T . gondii IgG antibody in depressed individuals in case-control and cross-sectional studies was 1.15 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.95–1.39). Conclusions As the findings of the reviewed articles indicated, toxoplasmosis is not a risk factor for MDD. However, it is necessary to perform further research to clarify the detailed association between T . gondii and dysthymia or mild and moderate depression. Furthermore, it is recommended to better investigate the effect of antibody titers on the relationship between depression and T . gondii infection.

show abstract

“…According to Fig 2, the lowest and highest ORs are related to the studies performed by Massa et al . [46] and Conejero-Goldberg et al . [22], respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…used a larger sample size with a different set of psychiatric diagnoses. Moreover, race, educational level, and economic status can result in different ORs [46].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there any association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and depression? A systematic review and meta-analysis

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, a slowing of latency is not unique to schizophrenia. It has been reported in autism ( 32 , 33 ), Huntington’s disease ( 34 ), and post-traumatic stress disorder ( 25 , 35 ). It is unknown how closely the neural underpinnings of slowed latency in schizophrenia may overlap with that of these other disorders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Gene-Based Analysis of Acoustic Startle Latency

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Latency of the acoustic startle response is the time required from the presentation of startling auditory stimulus until the startle response is elicited and provides an index of neural processing speed. Latency is prolonged in subjects with schizophrenia compared to controls in some but not all studies and is 68–90% heritable in baseline startle trials. In order to determine the genetic association with latency as a potential inroad into genetically based vulnerability to psychosis, we conducted a gene-based study of latency followed by an independent replication study of significant gene findings with a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based analysis of schizophrenia and control subjects. 313 subjects from an urban population of low socioeconomic status with mixed psychiatric diagnoses were included in the gene-based study. Startle testing was conducted using a Biopac M150 system according to our published methods. Genotyping was performed with the Omni-Quad 1M or the Omni Express BeadChip. The replication study was conducted on 154 schizophrenia subjects and 123 psychiatric controls. Genetic analyses were conducted with Illumina Human Omni1-Quad and OmniExpress BeadChips. Twenty-nine SNPs were selected from four genes that were significant in the gene-based analysis and also associated with startle and/or schizophrenia in the literature. Linear regressions on latency were conducted, controlling for age, race, and diagnosis as a dichotomous variable. In the gene-based study, 2,870 genes demonstrated the evidence of association after correction for multiple comparisons (false discovery rate < 0.05). Pathway analysis of these genes revealed enrichment for relevant biological processes including neural transmission (p = 0.0029), synaptic transmission (p = 0.0032), and neuronal development (p = 0.024). The subsequent SNP-based replication analysis revealed a strong association of onset latency with the SNP rs901561 on the neuregulin gene (NRG1) in an additive model (beta = 0.21, p = 0.001), indicating that subjects with the AA and AG genotypes had slower mean latency than subjects with GG genotype. In conclusion, startle latency, a highly heritable measure that is slowed in schizophrenia, may be a useful biological probe for genetic contributions to psychotic disorders. Our analyses in two independent populations point to a significant prediction of startle latency by genetic variation in NRG1.

show abstract

“…Similarly, other experimental studies also found that dopaminergic neurons containing T. gondii have demonstrated an increased synthesis of dopamine and an elevated presence of homovanillic acid, a dopamine metabolite (Stibbs, 1985; Prandovszky et al, 2011; Martin et al, 2015). A recent study reported a higher acoustic startle response magnitude among T. gondii infected participants (Massa et al, 2017). The authors proposed that the finding might be the outcome of increased dopamine production (Swerdlow et al, 1986; Parlog et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Moderation of the relationship between Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and trait impulsivity in younger men by the phenylalanine-tyrosine ratio

Peng

Brenner

Mathai

et al. 2018

Psychiatry Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previously, we reported that Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii)-seropositivity is associated with higher impulsive sensation seeking in younger men. As dopaminergic and serotonergic signaling regulate impulsivity, and as T. gondii directly and indirectly affects dopaminergic signaling and induces activation of the kynurenine pathway leading to the diversion of tryptophan from serotonin production, we investigated if dopamine and serotonin precursors or the tryptophan metabolite kynurenine interact with the T. gondii-impulsivity association. In 950 psychiatrically healthy participants, trait impulsivity scores were related to T. gondii IgG seropositivity. Interactions were also identified between categorized levels of phenylalanine (Phe), tyrosine (Tyr), Phe:Tyr ratio, kynurenine (Kyn), tryptophan (Trp) and Kyn:Trp ratio, and age and gender. Only younger T. gondii-positive men with a high Phe:Tyr ratio, were found to have significantly higher impulsivity scores. There were no significant associations in other demographic groups, including women and older men. No significant effects or interactions were identified for Phe, Tyr, Kyn, Trp, or Kyn:Trp ratio. Phe:Tyr ratio, therefore, may play a moderating role in the association between T. gondii seropositivity and impulsivity in younger men. These results could potentially lead to individualized approaches to reduce impulsivity, based on combined demographic, biochemical and serological factors.

show abstract

Relationship between Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and acoustic startle response in an inner-city population

Cited by 9 publications

References 68 publications

Is there any association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and depression? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Is there any association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and depression? A systematic review and meta-analysis

A Gene-Based Analysis of Acoustic Startle Latency

Moderation of the relationship between Toxoplasma gondii seropositivity and trait impulsivity in younger men by the phenylalanine-tyrosine ratio

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About