Brain is the predilection site of Toxoplasma gondii in experimentally inoculated pigs as revealed by magnetic capture and real-time PCR

•Distribution of Toxoplasma gondii in pig's tissues was studied by magnetic capture and qPCR.•Quantification of T. gondii in tissues was performed.•All tested tissues except spleen were T. gondii infected.•Brain tissue appears to be the predilection organ of T. gondii in pigs.

Pigs represent an important source of food in many countries, and undercooked pork containing tissue cysts is one of the most common sources of Toxoplasma gondii infection for humans. A magnetic capture method for the isolation of T. gondii DNA and quantitative real-time PCR targeting the 529 bp TOXO repeat element were used to estimate the parasite burden in different tissues of pigs experimentally infected with T. gondii oocysts, and to determine the predilection sites of T. gondii in this host species. The highest concentration of T. gondii DNA was found in brain tissues, equivalent to [median] 553.7 (range 3857.7–121.9) parasites per gram, followed by lungs, heart and dorsal muscles with median values corresponding to 0.3 (range 61.3–0.02); 2.6 (range 7.34–0.37) and 0.6 (range 2.81–0.31) parasites per gram of tissue, respectively. Skeletal muscles from fore and hindlimb, liver and kidney presented very low infection burdens equivalent to [median] ≤0.2 parasites per gram of tissues, and no parasite DNA could be detected in the spleen. This study contributes to understanding the value of different pig tissues as a source of T. gondii infection for humans and shows that the brain, while not being of major importance as human food source, may represent a first-line selection tissue when performing non-serological surveys (e.g. bioassays, histopathological, immunohistochemical or molecular studies) to detect T. gondii infections in pigs.