Premium
Influence of Pregnancy on the Course of Malaria in Mice Infected with Plasmodium berghei
Author(s) -
HIOKI ATSUSHI,
HIOKI YUKARI,
OHTOMO HIROSHI
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1990.tb01121.x
Subject(s) - plasmodium berghei , parasitemia , gestation , inoculation , malaria , pregnancy , anemia , biology , immunology , andrology , physiology , medicine , plasmodium falciparum , genetics
The course of malarial infection was compared in pregnant mice inoculated with Plasmodium berghei at different stages of gestation. When 12–14 wk old, pregnant BALB/c mice were inoculated with 1 × 10 6 of P. berghei NK65‐infected red cells at gestation day 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 or 16, the mice inoculated on gestation days 6–12 expired 6.5 days after inoculation compared to 9.5 days in non‐pregnant mice. Parasitemia in these pregnant mice increased rapidly on day 4 after inoculation and anemia also developed earlier on day 5. However, the degree of parasitemia and anemia in the terminal stage of infection in these pregnant mice was milder than that of non‐pregnant controls. Blood urea nitrogen increased at the terminal stage although the degree of increase in mice inoculated on gestation days 6–10 was comparatively small. Pregnant malarial mice died earlier with less physiological changes than non‐pregnant controls. It was concluded that pregnancy makes the host susceptible to physiological changes caused by malaria.