CULTURE MODEL FOR THE STUDY OF CEREBRAL MALARIA - ANTIBODIES FROM PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM-INFECTED COMATOSE PATIENTS INHIBIT THE DENDRITIC DEVELOPMENT OF PURKINJE-CELLS

The in vitro development of kitten Purkinje cells was inhibited by ser a or IgG from cerebral malaria (CM) patients but not by sera from acut e non-complicated malaria (NCM) cases. This inhibitory effect, quantif ied by computer-assisted methods, concerned the dendritic (though not the axonal) development and was found to be related to the presence in CM sera of self-reactive antibodies of the IgG class. These results s uggest that protection acquired against the major complication of Plas modium falciparum malaria may correspond to the repression of an abnor mal stimulation of autoreactive B cells. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.