Cellular stress and injury responses in the brains of adult Vietnamese patients with fatal Plasmodium falciparum malaria
Abstract
Immunohistochemical techniques have been used to investigate specific patterns of potentially reversible cellular injury, DNA damage, and apoptosis in the brainstems of Vietnamese patients who died of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The degree and pattern of neuronal and glial stress responses were compared between patients with cerebral and non-cerebral malaria (CM), and appropriate non-malaria infected controls. The following markers were examined: (i) heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), for reversible injury; (ii) heme oxygenase-1, for oxidative stress; (iii & iv) two DNA-repair proteins, poly(ADP) ribose polymerase (PARP) and DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit; (v) poly(ADP) ribose, an end-product of PARP activity; and (vi) caspase-3-active, for apoptosis. Stress responses were found in a range of cell types as reflected by the widespread expression of HSP70. Oxidative stress predominated in the vicinity of vessels and haemorrhages. Some degree of DNA damage was found in the majority of malaria patients, but the distribution and frequency of the damage was much less than that observed in controls with irreversible neuronal injury. Similarly, caspase-3-active expression, as a measure of apoptosis, was no higher ...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Oxidative and nitrosative stresses in cerebral malaria: can we target them to avoid a bad prognosis?
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Apoptotic Caspases
Apoptotic caspases belong to the protease enzyme family and are known to play an essential role in inflammation and programmed cell death. Here is the latest research.
Antimalarial Agents (ASM)
Antimalarial agents, also known as antimalarials, are designed to prevent or cure malaria. Discover the latest research on antimalarial agents here.
Apoptosis
Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis
Antimalarial Agents
Antimalarial agents, also known as antimalarials, are designed to prevent or cure malaria. Discover the latest research on antimalarial agents here.