DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2016.v04i08.004

Pages: 617-626

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are reported to be involved in human Cerebral Malaria (CM). To assess the extent of oxidative stress, we have investigated the biomarker of lipid peroxidation, Malondialdehyde (MDA) and its co relation with levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines with malaria severity. The present study was designed to measure Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) for the MDA assay to delineate the oxidative stress in various organs (brain, liver and spleen) of Plasmodium berghei ANKA infected Swiss albino mice. Further mRNA levels of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α), Interleukin -1β (IL-1β) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured by qRT-PCR in the organs of mice according to severity of malaria. Result of this study showed that the MDA levels were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the brain, liver and spleen of infected mice compared with the non-infected control group respectively. A study observed highly up regulation of TNF-α between the day 5 and 9 with peak production being detected on the 9th day, and subsequently decreased between the 11th and 13th day. In the brain, spleen and liver IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA were significantly up-regulated (P<0.0001) and persisted throughout the course of infection. It might be concluded from the findings of the present study that the oxidative stress response induced by the plasmodium species may trigger the inflammatory cytokine responses in malaria severity and thereby contributes to the pathogenesis of the disease; however the interplay between the oxidative response and inflammatory activity in disease virulence needs further study.