Neuroimmunological Blood Brain Barrier Opening in Experimental Cerebral Malaria

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is responsible for nearly one million annual deaths worldwide.
Plasmodium falciparum malaria is responsible for nearly one million annual deaths worldwide.
Complement receptors for C3-derived fragments (CR1–4) play critical roles in innate and adaptive immune responses.
Complement contributes to inflammation during pathogen infections; however, less is known regarding its role during malaria and in the severest form of the disease, cerebral malaria.
The results showed high prevalence of blood group B in both mild (n = 110) and severe malaria (cerebral malaria [CM]; n = 130 and non-cerebral severe malaria [NCSM]; n = 103) categories among the non-O group and while type O is significantly associated with protection against CM, patients with type A and B group had increased risk for developing CM.
In the present work, we evaluated BDNF protein levels and AChE activity in the hippocampus and habituation in an animal model of CM using C57BL/6 mice after fifteen days of the induction.
Infection of pregnant C57BL/6 females with K173, NK65 and ANKADeltapm4 P. berghei parasites provide experimental systems to identify host molecular components involved in PM pathogenesis mechanisms.
We investigated the utility of plasma concentrations of parasite histidine-rich protein 2 (pHRP2), a Plasmodium-specific protein, as a predictor of intracerebral parasite sequestration at autopsy and of malaria retinopathy on clinical examination in patients with clinically defined CM.
In a series of elegant autopsy-based studies, Taylor and colleagues demonstrated that as many as 23% of children who meet this WHO definition of cerebral malaria actually die from other causes and that the presence of malaria retinopathy has a >90% sensitivity and specificity for predicting “true” cerebral malaria, in which parasite sequestration is documented in cerebral capillaries
The study objectives were to assess myelin thickness and ultrastructural morphology in the corpus callosum in murine CM and to adress the effects of EPO treatment in this context.
Cerebral malaria is a major, life-threatening complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and has very high mortality rate.