| Macrophages exposed to 10 mug/mL citrinin (CTR) or 0.01 mug CTR mixed with 0.04 mug aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) for a period of 2 h at 37ºC, were infected with 10(6) Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites/muL. The parasites were treated with mycotoxins (2 h at 37ºC) before being added to the macrophage culture. The number of tachyzoites was quantified 2, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after infection. During the first 2 hours, 59% infectivity was observed in the control. After exposure to CTR or the mixture of toxins (CTR-AFB1), macrophages were infected with 77.5% and 75% of the inoculated tachyzoites, respectively. Similarly, 72.3% of the cells were infected when cultured together with previously treated parasites. The treatment with CTR-AFB1 gave rise to 2.9 times more tachyzoites... |
