Immunological aspects of cerebral lesions in murine malaria.

The majority of male C57Bl/Rij mice died infected with Plasmodium berghei early in the second week. Death was closely correlated to collapse of the thermoregulation of the body, with perivascular oedema and petechial haemorrhages in the brain. Mice that did not show a collapse of thermoregulation (temperature drop below 30 degrees C) and survived for more than 2 weeks after infection did not show haemorrhages. Development of this syndrome (temperature below 30 degrees C; early death; haemorrhages) during infection depended on the presence of the spleen and was prevented by irradiation of the spleen or a timely treatment with dexamethasone, anti-T-cell serum or immune serum.