Scant parasitemia in BALB/c mice with congenital malaria infection.
Balb/c mice were examined to determine whether or not they transmitted rodent malaria, Plasmodium berghei, to their fetuses. On the 15th day of pregnancy, mice were inoculated with approximately 3 x 10(6) P. berghei-infected erythrocytes by peritoneal injection. The blood from 27 adult females and 196 neonates was examined using a sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method with a detection level of approximately 1 parasite/microl blood. The average parasitemia of females at delivery was 8.1%, ranging from nondetectable to 37.1%. In 12 females, nested PCR established the presence of blood parasite DNA. Malaria parasites were microscopically confirmed in 2 of the 12 neonates. Maternal parasitemia at the time of delivery was not correlated with the incidence of vertical infection (6.1%), which was higher in this study than that found in previous studies. Although the combination of balb/c mice and P. berghei has not been used to examine vertical transmission of malaria, our report showed that this model may be used for this purpose.
Adachi
M
M
Department of Medical Zoology, Mie University School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan.
Yuda
M
M
Ando
K
K
Sakurai
M
M
Chinzei
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001399:Azure Stains; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008288:Malaria / Q000151:congenital* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000469:parasitology; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000469:parasitology*
D001399:Azure Stains; D016054:DNA, Protozoan