Immunopathological studies of Plasmodium berghei infected mice: (effect of carbon particles)

An attempt was made to block the role of the macrophages in the immune response by saturating them with carbon particles. The experiment was performed on Swiss albino female mice injected intraperitoneally with 10(5) P. berghei berghei. These mice were injected with carbon particles of 20 mgs on the day before the inoculation and again 10 mgs on day 4 and day 9 after the inoculation. The degree of parasitaemia was slightly higher throughout the experiment in the infected mice treated with carbon than in those untreated. By direct immunofluorescent method the free floating form of malaria antigen was detected in the infected organs (liver, kidney and spleen) on day 3 of infection onwards. The antigen was more intense in the carbon treated mice than in the untreated ones. The granular form of the antigen in the walls of glomerular capillaries of the kidney, in the Kupffer cells of the liver and in the reticulo-endothelial cells of the spleen, the malarial antibody and the immune complex (malaria antigen, antibody and mouse beta 1 C globulin) in the kidney were detected later on (day 11).