Table 2.

Effect of Toxoplasma gondii infection on hormones in animals.

References		Type of study	Type of host	Age of the host (weeks)	Way of infectiona	Stage parasite	Strainb	Number of parasites	Days post-infection	Analysis techniquec	Hormonesd	Groupe	N	Resultsf		p
1	Kittas and Henry, 1979	In vivo	Guinea-pigs	NS	SC	Cysts	Bk	50	42	Number of Toixoplasma cysts ± SD
										HIS	17β-estradiol (E2)	Control F:	8	88.75 ± 21.60
												Control M:	8	82.50 ± 21.1*		<0.001
												Gdt F:	8	63.00 ± 16.5	↓
												Gdt M:	8	65.25 ± 10.8	↓
												Gdt + Hex F:	8	200.25 ± 16.00	↑
												Gdt + Hex M:	8	184.00 ± 36.80	↑
2	Kittas and Henry, 1980	In vivo	Mice	11	SC	Cysts	Bk	30	42	Number of Toxoplasma cysts ± SD
										HIS	17β-estradiol	Control F:	8	222 ± 42
											(E2)	Control M:	8	220 ± 23
												Gdt F:	8	189 ± 22*	↓	<0.001
												Gdt M:	8	178 ± 24*	↓	<0.001
												Gdt + Hex F:	8	598 ± 64*	↑	<0.001
												Gdt + Hex M:	8	599 ± 45*	↑	<0.001
3	Pung and Luster, 1986	In vivo	Mice (B6C3F1)	8–10	SC	Cysts	T45	30	35	Number of Toxoplasma cysts ± SD
										RIA	Control		6	982 ± 194
											DES		6	2244 ± 66*	↑	<0.05
											17β-estradiol		6	1934 ± 198*	↑	<0.05
											5α-Dihydrotesti osterone		6	792 ± 164	↓
											Progesterone		6	1012 ± 172	↑
											Zeralanol		6	1463 ± 190	↑
											a-Dienestrol		6	2405 ± 227*	↑	<0.05
											Corticosterone		6	1954 ± 314*	↑	<0.05
										Effect of Tamoxifen, number of cysts ± SD
										RIA	17β-estradiol (E2)	Control	6	1115 ± 112
												Tamoxifen	6	975 ± 124	↓
												17β-estradiol	6	2220 ± 182*	↑	<0.05
												Tamoxifen + E2	6	1027 ± 167	↓
4	Fredriksson et al., 1990	In vivo	Ewes (Scottish blackface)	NS	Oral	Oocysts	RH	2000	90.5	Progesterone levels (nM/L)
										RIA	Progesterone (P4)	Control	3	10–20
												Infected	13	10	↓	NS
												Vaccinated	15	10	↓	NS
5	Aiumalamai et al., 1990	In vivo	Ewes (Swedish Peltsheep)	52–104	NS	Oocysts	NS	NS	90.5	Progesterone levels (nM/L)
										RIA	Progesterone (P4)		7	Day 5: 6–8
														Days 10 a 15: 19-	↑	<0.05
6	Hulínská et al., 1990	In vivo	Mice (H VUFB)	4–5	IP	Cysts	P78	10	Number of tachyzoites and stozoites
									5–14	HIS y MIC	Cortisone	Group 1	20	10–14 days	↑	–
									12–47			Group 2	20
7	Engeland et al., 1996	In vivo	Goat (Norwegian)	NS	SC	Bradyzoites	NS	1250	54–73	Progesterone levels
										ELISA y SF	Progesterone (P4)	Control	6
												Infected	5
8	Stahl and Kaneda, 1998a	In vivo	Mice (Nya: NYLAR)	NS	IP	Cysts	CS	8	3 and 4	T4 levels (Mean)
										RIA	Thyroxine (T4)	Control	10	7.5
												Infected	10	3	↓	<0.01
9	Stahl and Kaneda, 1998a	In vivo	Mice (Nya: NYLAR)	12	IP	Cysts	CS	8	4	Subnormal T4 response to a 1 |ig bolus or TRH (Mean)
										RIA	Thyroxine (T4)	Control	8	11
												Infected	8	3	↓	<0.01
10	Liesenfeld et al., 2001	In vivo	Mice (C57BL/6)	8–10	Oral	Cysts	ME 49	100	7	Number of parasitophorous vacuoles
										NS	Testosterone	Control		657 ± 399
												Testosteron		426 ± 282	↓	=0.0141
11	Kaňková et al., 2011	In vivo	Mice (BALB/c and C57 Black)	5–6	Oral	Cysts	T38	10	60	Differences in serum testosterone levels
										RIA	Testosterone	M. Toxo infected	12	Z = −2.32	↓	=0.005
												M. Controls	20
												F. Toxo infected	12	Z = −2.76	↓	=0.020
												F. Controls	20
12	Abdoli et al., 2012	In vivo	Rats (Wistar)	NS	IP	Tachyzoites	RH	1 × 107		Effect of T. gondii infection on Serum Testosterone (ST)
									10	ELISA	Testosterone	Uninfected	5	0.6 ± 0.01
									10			Infected	3	0.55 ± 0.02*	↓	<0.05
										Effect of T.gondii infection on IntratesticularTestosteron (ITT)
									10			Uninfected	5	4.07 ± 0.02
									10			Infected	3	3.89 ± 0.05*	↓	<0.05
13	Puvanesuaran et al., 2012	In vivo	Mice (Swiss)	3	Oral	Tachyzoites	RH	1 × 104	4	Number of tachyzoites (Mean)
										MIC	Prednisolone	Control	3	1.48 × 107
												235 mg/kg	3	2.75 × 107	↑	<0.05
												470 mg/kg	3	2.92 × 107	↑	<0.05
												705 mg/kg	3	3.21 × 107	↑	<0.05
14	Lim et al., 2013	In vivo	Rats (Wistar)	7	IP	Tachyzoites	PRU	5 × 106	42–56	% Increase of Testosterona levels
										ELISA	Testosterone		54	60%	↑	=0.057
15	Mitra et al., 2013	In vivo	Rats	6.5	IP	Tachyzoites	PRU	10 × 106	42–56	Circuling levels of corticosterone
										ELISA	Corticosterone		126	64%	↓	<0.05

^aSC, Subcutaneously; IP, Intraperitoneally; NA, Not Applicable.

^bType of strain: BK, Beverley; PRU, Prugniaud; CS, Cornell; RH, ME49, T45, P78, T38.

^cHIS, Histological; RIA, Radioimmunoassay; MIC, Microscopical; SF, Sabin and Feldman; ELISA, Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay.

^dE2, 17β-estradiol; P4, Progesterone; T4, Thyroxine; DES, Diethylstilbestrol; ST, Serum Testosterone; ITT, Intra testicular testosterone; TRH, Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone.

^eM, Male; F, Female; Gdt, Gonadectomy; Hex, Hexoestrol.

^f↑, Increased infection; ↓, Decrement infection; ↑, Increased hormone; ↓, Decrement hormone;

^*and bold, Statistically Significant. NS, Not specified; SD, Standard deviation.