Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection causes brain damage in mice resistant to cerebral malaria

Severe malaria is a complex multisystem disorder includ-ing complications such as cerebral malaria, anemia, aci-dosis, jaundice, respiratory distress, renal insufficiency,coagulation anomalies and hyperparasitemia. We previ-ously characterized the experimental cerebral syndromeusing in vivo MRI and MRS techniques and proved thepreponderant role of edema in the fatal outcome of exper-imental cerebral malaria (CM) [1]. The purpose of the cur-rent study was to examine the cerebral effects ofPlasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) infection in a mousestrain resistant to CM. We tested the hypothesis that PbAinfection could elicit brain injury, despite the absence ofexperimental CM, and by mechanisms different fromthose involved in CM.