Neuropeptide-containing cells in the cortex and striatum of mice with cerebral malaria

Central nervous system tissue of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) exhibits similar histopathological features to those in post-mortem human cerebral malaria (CM) tissue. In this study, the neurochemical characteristics of PbA-infected and control mice were compared. Substance P-containing neurones were almost completely lost from the cortex and striatum of PbA-infected mice seven days after inoculation, whereas the intensity of calbindin immunolabelling was increased compared with controls. Neuropeptide Y- and somatostatin-containing neurones were dramatically reduced in number only in the cortex of day 7 post-inoculation mice compared with controls. This neurochemical pattern in mice with CM is similar to that previously reported to be produced in rats by quinolinic acid. Since the level of quinolinic acid is known to be raised in the brains of PbA-infected mice, the results would be consistent with a role for quinolinic acid in the production of brain damage in fatal murine CM.