Toxoplasma Gondii Seroprevalence Among Children With Some Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Toxoplasma gondii is recognized as being involved in the etiology of various psychotic disorders including epilepsy and ADHD (Markovitz et al.,2015).

There are many explanations for such associations between toxoplasmosis and neurological disorders which include many anatomical and neurotransmitter-related changes. Toxoplasmosis may cause alterations in neurotransmitter levels like serotonin, noradrenaline, glutamate, nitric oxide and gamma aminobutyric acid, increase in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and modulate the dopaminergic signaling (Babaie et al., 2017). The behavioral changes produced by the cyst formation in the brain tissue may also related to the localization of the cyst within specific parts of the brain and this is assumed to be one of the main causes of epilepsy in toxoplasmosis. Moreover, tachyzoites may invade the brain tissues and excite brain cells especially neurons, microglia and astrocytes. Additionally, the presence of Toxoplasma in brain evokes inflammatory response and stimulate immune system to produce antibodies with increase in proinflammatory cytokines. Interestingly, some studies described that many host genes and proteins could be affected by Toxoplasma, signifying its involvement in many genetic disorders including neuropsychiatric diseases.The current study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies among children with some neuropsychiatric disorders (Epilepsy and ADHD) in Sohag governorate, Egypt.