This Deadly Fungus Shapeshifts to Get Deep Inside Your Brain Tissue



Scientists have discovered that the deadly fungus Cryptococcus neoformans actually changes in size once it enters a body, boosting its probability of infection. It sounds a little bit like the plot of a horror movie.

The fungus can be discovered in the wild in a range of settings, including rotting wood and bird droppings. Once inhaled, it exhibits the same adaptability inside the body, moving from the lungs through the bloodstream to various organs.

Once established inside the human body, the infection can cause a variety of illnesses, including the uncommon but potentially fatal condition known as fungal meningitis, which causes swelling in the brain.

We may someday be able to treat it more successfully thanks to recent discoveries based on a mouse study.

According to University of Utah pathologist Jessica Brown, "Cryptococcus cells in the lungs are quite diverse with different sizes and distinct looks." I was so startled when my graduate student showed me images of the homogeneity of brain cells.

It was implied that there was a very good reason why only this group of cells was entering the body so far.

The researchers set out to try and understand why cells of a specific size were detected so deeply within host territory, knowing that the fungus might grow up to 10 times its typical size in the lungs.

The scientists found that the tiniest cells of C. neoformans tended to enter the brain when they infected mice with varying sizes of the parasite.

But that wasn't all; the team also discovered modifications to the smaller cells' surfaces and variations in the genes that were active in those fungus. According to the researchers, these "seed cells" aren't just little duplicates of the fungus but rather something entirely distinct.

Based on the researchers' investigations, phosphate is probably what is driving these alterations. Phosphate is abundant in bird droppings in addition to being released from host cells when tissues are harmed during infection. This appears to be the spark for the fungus's development of shape-shifting abilities, which may aid in its ability to infect humans and enter the brain.

We believe that C. neoformans acquired the capacity to infect mammals due to selecting pressures from environmental niches like pigeon guano, says Brown.

These seed cells were able to travel all the way to the brain in the mouse trials in just a few days. The ability of the fungus to adapt to many settings so fast, according to the researchers, is crucial to its ability to successfully propagate throughout the body.

The next step is to confirm that C. neoformans likewise shrinks in humans and to discover medications that can stop this process and stop C. neoformans from harming the body. The scientists speculate that already-approved drugs by the regulatory body would be useful.

We are slowly but surely learning more about the techniques that this lethal fungus employs to propagate its infection, especially in light of current studies into how the fungus penetrates the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain.

We show that the development of a tiny C. neoformans morphotype, also known as'seed' cells because of their propensity to colonize, is essential for extrapulmonary organ entrance.

The study was released in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do You Sleep on Your Back or Side? Here's The Research on 'Optimal' Sleep Positions

Image
William Dement, a renowned sleep researcher at Stanford University, is quoted as saying that after 50 years of study, the only reason he can think of for why we sleep is "because we become sleepy." Sleep certainly matters for our health and wellbeing even though it may be, as one researcher put it, "the sole major habit in quest of a function." Do we, however, have it right? What do studies on sleeping positions say? Is there a proper sleeping position? The majority of people favor sleeping on their side. This is encouraging news because people who sleep on their backs are more likely to have trouble falling asleep or breathing during the night. Most of the time, we have a tendency to shift around quite a bit at night. According to a study involving 664 sleepers, on average, participants slept on their side 54% of the time, their back 37% of the time, and their front 7% of the time. Males are more likely to change positions throughout the night and move their arms, ...
Read more

A Briefcase-Sized Box Is Already Making Oxygen on Mars

Image
Currently, the Martian atmosphere is in no way hospitable to Earthlings. It is formed primarily of carbon dioxide and is over 100 times less dense than Earth's atmosphere. It would soon stop breathing completely for any individuals who tried to breathe in it. A modest device, about the size of a suitcase, has been consistently extracting breathable oxygen from the Martian atmosphere on that sandy, arid, alien world. In order to manufacture breathing air for a human expedition to the red planet, it is the first demonstration of the processing of in situ resources for human use on another world. Its name is MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Experiment), and it is a device that utilizes electrolysis to separate Martian carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen. It is mounted inside NASA's Perseverance rover. According to the researchers, MOXIE produced oxygen seven times as much between February 2021, when Perseverance arrived, until the end of 2021. Acco...
Read more

New DNA Research Unlocks Secrets of Native Rodents’ Rat Race to New Lands

Image
More than 150 different native rodent species from Australia, New Guinea, and Melanesian islands have had their DNA sequenced in recent studies. It provides a fuller understanding of their connections and the circumstances surrounding their expansion throughout the Pacific. The Australian National University's (ANU) Dr. Emily Roycroft, the study's lead author, said native rodents are an interesting but frequently underappreciated evolutionary group. Dr. Roycroft noted that over 150 species in Australia and New Guinea are unique to those regions and include the rakali, sometimes known as the "water rat," which is frequently spotted swimming in the lakes near Canberra. We now know relatively little about the history and development of native rodents, particularly those found in New Guinea. In order to obtain DNA from museum specimens up to 180 years old, including several extinct and secretive species, the study team developed a novel technique. "One Guadalcanal ra...
Read more