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. 2020 Jul-Sep;15(3):299-306.
doi: 10.18502/ijpa.v15i3.4193.

Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay to Detect Toxoplasmosis in Schizophrenia Patients

Hadi Mirahmadi  1   2 , Raheleh Hasanzadeh  1   2 , Hamid Malek Raeesi  1 , Shirzad Fallahi  3 , Mahdi Khoshsima Shahraki  4 , Alireza Badirzadeh  5
Affiliations

Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay to Detect Toxoplasmosis in Schizophrenia Patients

Hadi Mirahmadi et al. Iran J Parasitol. 2020 Jul-Sep.

Abstract

Background: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) causes an important parasitic infection known as toxoplasmosis, which is a globally distributed important zoonosis. One of the major serious characteristics of T. gondii is its ability to manipulate the behavior of intermediate hosts. We performed a cross-sectional study to determine toxoplasmosis in schizophrenic patients, as one of the major neuropsychiatric disorders, using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technic by targeting parasite B1 gene.

Methods: Blood samples were taken from 118 schizophrenic patients hospitalized in tow hospitals including Baharan, Clinic of Psychiatric Ali-ibn-Abi-Talib Hospital (in Zahedan City), and Amir-al Momenin Psychiatric Hospital (in Zabol City), Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeast Iran in 2016. They were analyzed using LAMP, and compared with the previous data of nested-PCR and serology.

Results: Out of the 118 schizophrenic individuals, 56 patients (47.4%) were found to be infected with T. gondii. The diagnosis of toxoplasmosis was confirmed in 41 patients (34.7%) via the nested-PCR. The seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in schizophrenic patients was 55.9% (66/118).

Conclusion: We found a high efficiency of LAMP method in identifying toxoplasmosis and its high prevalence among schizophrenic patients. Our findings could provide viable offer implications for the prevention of schizophrenia.

Keywords: Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP); Schizophrenia; Toxoplasma gondii; Toxoplasmosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1:
Fig. 1:
Location of sampling sites (Zabol and Zahedan cities) in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Southeast of Iran (Created by Arc GIS version 10.2)
Fig. 2:
Fig. 2:
LAMP monitor of T. gondii DNA in schizophrenic patients. P: positive control, N: negative control; Tubes 1–14 represent patients samples
Fig. 3:
Fig. 3:
Agarose gel analysis of LAMP assay for the specific detection of T. gondii DNA based on B1 gene amplification. Lane 1: 100 bp molecular weight marker; Lane 2: positive control; Lane 3: negative control; lanes 4–9: negative test group from patients; lanes 10–12: positive test group from patients
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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