Effects of Tritrichomonas muris on the mouse intestine: a proteomic analysis.

Although Tritrichomonas muris is a common parasite often detected in experimental animals including mice, its pathogenesis in host animals remains unclear. Proteomics can be used to specifically analyze biochemical host-parasite interaction and immune responses of the host to parasites. However, proteomics have not yet been applied to T muris studies. Here, the effects of T muris on the host were analyzed by proteomics. We found that 10 different proteins were expressed in T muris-infected mice intestines compared with noninfected intestines. The identified proteins represented several functions mainly related to stress, immune response, metabolism and signal transduction. The results suggest that T muris infection may affect processes that are acclimatizing to the environmental changes caused by the infection in the mouse intestine.