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

Hadi Mirahmadi; Raheleh Hasanzadeh; Hamid Malek Raeesi; Shirzad Fallahi; Mahdi Khoshsima Shahraki; Alireza Badirzadeh

doi:10.18502/ijpa.v15i3.4193

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

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

Authors

Hadi Mirahmadi^{1

2}, Raheleh Hasanzadeh^{1

2}, Hamid Malek Raeesi¹, Shirzad Fallahi³, Mahdi Khoshsima Shahraki⁴, Alireza Badirzadeh⁵

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Resistant Tubercluosis Institute, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
² Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
³ Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
⁴ Department of Medical Parasitology, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran.
⁵ Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

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.