ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
This article is part of the Research TopicMechanisms and Innovations in Combating Intracellular InfectionsView all 10 articles
Listeria monocytogenes invasion in goat brain tissues: Mechanisms of blood-brain barrier disruption and regulation of apoptosis and autophagy
Provisionally accepted
Yunhai Hu
Lingkang LiuWenya ZhengBen Liu*
Songlin Liu
Shi Si YuanYifan WuYu CaoJingya LiuXiaojie ZhouXinli Huang- Yichun University, Yichun, China
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Listeria monocytogenes (LM), a zoonotic intracellular pathogen, causes fatal neurological infections in ruminants (e.g., goats) and humans. However, the mechanisms by which LM breaches the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and regulates neuronal programmed cell death (apoptosis/autophagy) remain unclear in caprine models—knowledge that is critical for livestock disease control. This study aimed to investigate the spatiotemporal invasion pathway of LM in goat central nervous system, its brain region-specific effects on apoptosis and autophagy, and the role of the Pink1/Parkin pathway in mitochondrial autophagy during LM infection. Goats were intravenously infected with LM to establish an intracranial infection model. Bacterial loads in brain tissues were quantified, and multiple techniques (immunofluorescence, TUNEL, immunohistochemistry, Western blot, qRT-PCR) were used to detect BBB integrity, apoptotic/autophagic markers, and related pathway proteins (E-cadherin/c-Met, Bcl-2/Bax, LC3B, Pink1/Parkin). LM showed tropism for brainstem regions (midbrain, pons, medulla oblongata) with focal colonization in neurons and glial cells. BBB tight junction proteins (ZO-1, Claudin-1, Occludin) exhibited region-specific dysregulation; notably, an upregulation of Claudin-1 and Occludin was observed in the medulla, suggesting a localized compensatory response. LM infection was associated with the activation of the E-cadherin/c-Met pathway, potentially facilitating transendothelial and neuronal invasion. Apoptosis (Bcl-2/Bax imbalance) and autophagy (LC3B, Pink1/Parkin) were heterogeneously regulated across brain regions, with significant quantitative changes observed in the cerebrum, cerebellum, midbrain, and medulla. In conclusion, LM invades goat brain tissues coinciding with BBB disruption, exhibits brainstem tropism, and modulates apoptosis and autophagy through region-specific pathways, providing novel insights into LM-induced neurological pathogenesis in ruminants.
Keywords: Apoptosis, Autophagy, Blood-Brain Barrier, Brain tropism, Goat, Listeria monocytogenes
Received: 18 Nov 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Hu, Liu, Zheng, Liu, Liu, Si Yuan, Wu, Cao, Liu, Zhou and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ben Liu
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