1. WEPDA0105:Destruction of nervous cells is potentiated in the simultaneous presence of gp41 and Toxoplasma gondii Escobar Guevara, EE; Fuentes Alvarado, YJ; Carrero Salas, JA; Roldán Dávila, YB; Alarcón de Noya, B; de Quesada, ME; Alfonzo Díaz, MA eescobar@ivic.gob.ve Fig. 1- Nitric Oxide Production in primary cultures ofrat nervous cells, stimulated with gp41 and/or infected with T. gondii: Nervous cells of Sprague Dawley rats fetuses cultured under recombinant HIV’s gp41 stimulation (10 nM) with or without T. gondii- RH straininfection (1/500; parasite/nervous cell ratio) (Groups B and D) produced significantly higher levels of nitric oxide (NO) from day 1 to day 7, than groups without gp41 stimulation (Groups A and C). In our experiments, T. gondii infection nor induced neither inhibited the production of NO.

2. WEPDA0105:Destruction of nervous cells is potentiated in the simultaneous presence of gp41 and Toxoplasma gondii Escobar Guevara, EE; Fuentes Alvarado, YJ; Carrero Salas, JA; Roldán Dávila, YB; Alarcón de Noya, B; de Quesada, ME; Alfonzo Díaz, MA eescobar@ivic.gob.ve Fig. 2- Apoptosis in primary cultures ofrat nervous cells, stimulated with gp41 and/or infected with T. gondii: Nervous cells of Sprague Dawley rats fetuses cultured under recombinant HIV’s gp41 stimulation (10 nM) with or without T. gondii- RH straininfection (1/500; parasite/nervous cell ratio) (Groups B and D) showed higher levels of apoptosis from day 3 to day 7 (significantly days 5 and 7), than groups without gp41 stimulation (Groups A and C). When we compared nitric oxide production (see Fig.1) with the percentage of apoptosis of rat nervous cells, from day 1 to day 7, in all culture conditions, we found a significantly positive correlation between these two variables (See Fig. 2-Insert). In our experiments, T. gondii infection nor induced neither inhibited the apoptosis of rat nervous cells.

3. WEPDA0105:Destruction of nervous cells is potentiated in the simultaneous presence of gp41 and Toxoplasma gondii Escobar Guevara, EE; Fuentes Alvarado, YJ; Carrero Salas, JA; Roldán Dávila, YB; Alarcón de Noya, B; de Quesada, ME; Alfonzo Díaz, MA eescobar@ivic.gob.ve Fig. 3- Cell counts of primary cultures of rat nervous cells, stimulated with gp41 and/or infected with T. gondii: Nervous cells of Sprague Dawley rats fetuses infected with RH strain of T. gondii (1/500; parasite/nervous cell ratio), with or without recombinant HIV’s gp41 stimulation (10 nM) (Groups C and D), presented lower cell counts (significantly from day 3 to Group D and from day 5 to Group C) than Control (Group A), but in the simultaneous presence of gp41 and T. gondii (Group D) cell counts were even lower (significantly days 5, vs. Group C; and day 7, vs. Group B) suggesting potentiation of cytotoxicity. In our experiments nor the presence of gp41 in cultures neither nitric oxide produced by its stimulation, inhibited the progression or cytolytic effect of T. gondii infection.