Influence of malarial infection on the maternal-foetal relationship in pregnant mice

Pregnant mice infected on gestation day (GD) 6 with Plasmodium berghei showed a more rapid rate of increase in parasitaemia than mice infected later in pregnancy or non-pregnant controls. All mice infected on GD 6 were dead by the 7th post-infection day. Pregnant mice infected on GD 13, in contrast, had similar rates of parasitaemia and mortality as non-pregnant controls and 50% delivered normally, the foetuses were absorbed in 20% and 30% died before parturition. The pups born to mice infected on GD 13 were smaller. This compromised foetal development was likely to be the result of maternal anaemia, hyperplasia of placental trophoblast and plugging of placental sinusoids with parasitized red cells.