INCREASED C-FOS EXPRESSION IN THE BRAIN DURING EXPERIMENTAL MURINE CEREBRAL MALARIA - POSSIBLE ASSOCIATION WITH NEUROLOGIC COMPLICATIONS

Cerebral expression of c-fos protein was studied by immunocytochemistr y in murine cerebral malaria (CM) and malaria without cerebral involve ment (non-CM). c-fos expression, low in the brains of uninfected mice, increased in frequency, intensity, and distribution during the course of fatal CM (e.g., a 70-fold increase on day 7 after inoculation). Th ese changes paralleled the timing and degree of the neurologic complic ations and histopathologic changes. Only a slight increase in c-fos ex pression was detectable in non-CM mice on day 7 after inoculation. Dex amethasone treatment (days 0 and 1 after inoculation) of the CM mice l argely prevented the increased cerebral c-fos expression, histopatholo gic changes, cerebral complications, and death. Increased c-fos expres sion may indicate the specific neuronal pathways activated by the immu nopathologic process of fatal murine CM and could be associated with t he behavioral changes and neurologic complications in this model.