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Infection and Immunity, May 2006, p. 2839-2848, Vol. 74, No. 5
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.74.5.2839-2848.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Murine Malaria Infection Induces Fetal Loss Associated with Accumulation of Plasmodium chabaudi AS-Infected Erythrocytes in the Placenta

Jayakumar Poovassery and Julie M. Moore*

Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

Received 15 December 2005/ Returned for modification 24 January 2006/ Accepted 11 February 2006

Malarial infection in nonimmune women is a risk factor for pregnancy loss, but the role that maternal antimalarial immune responses play in fetal compromise is not clear. We conducted longitudinal and serial sacrifice studies to examine the pathogenesis of malaria during pregnancy using the Plasmodium chabaudi AS/C57BL/6 mouse model. Peak parasitemia following inoculation with 1,000 parasite-infected murine erythrocytes and survival were similar in infected pregnant and nonpregnant mice, although development of parasitemia and anemia was slightly accelerated in pregnant mice. Importantly, pregnant mice failed to maintain viable pregnancies, most aborting before day 12 of gestation. At abortion, maternal placental blood parasitemia was statistically significantly higher than peripheral parasitemia. Infected mice had similar increases in spleen size and cellularity which were statistically significantly higher than in uninfected mice. In contrast, splenocyte proliferation in response to mitogenic stimulation around peak parasitemia was statistically significantly reduced in both groups of infected mice compared to uninfected, nonpregnant mice, suggesting that lymphoproliferation is not a good indicator of the antimalarial immune responses in pregnant or nonpregnant animals. This study suggests that while pregnant and nonpregnant C57BL/6 mice are equally capable of mounting an effective immune response to and surviving P. chabaudi AS infection, pregnant mice cannot produce viable pups. Fetal loss appears to be associated with placental accumulation of infected erythrocytes. Further study is required to determine to what extent maternal antimalarial immune responses, anemia, and placental accumulation of parasites contribute to compromised pregnancy in this model.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Phone: (706) 542-5789. Fax: (706) 542-5771. E-mail: julmoore{at}vet.uga.edu.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, May 2006, p. 2839-2848, Vol. 74, No. 5
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.74.5.2839-2848.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Poovassery, J., Moore, J. M. (2009). Association of Malaria-Induced Murine Pregnancy Failure with Robust Peripheral and Placental Cytokine Responses. Infect. Immun. 77: 4998-5006 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Poovassery, J. S., Sarr, D., Smith, G., Nagy, T., Moore, J. M. (2009). Malaria-Induced Murine Pregnancy Failure: Distinct Roles for IFN-{gamma} and TNF. J. Immunol. 183: 5342-5349 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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