New study shows how malaria parasite damages brain

Researchers have identified how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum affects the brain an advance that may help develop potential therapeutics that could help prevent or even reverse the damageCerebral malaria kills one out of five children who suffer from it and also causes longterm disabilities in half of the survivorsMalaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum which reproduces in our red blood cells and then breaks out of them to continue infecting new cellsOnce the parasite makes it to the bloodbrain barrier BBB a structure that protects the brain from harmful substances it can damage it causing severe complicationsTo understand its effects researchers from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL in Barcelona Spain created a labgrown BBB to show how the parasite damages itYou have to imagine the BBB as a system of tightly sealed pipes that prevent leaks The malaria parasite is capable of developing cracks in those pipes and creating a leak that starts dripping infected fluid into the brain causing swelling and making the disease irreversible said Livia Piatti postdoctoral student at EMBLThe labgrown infection model of the human BBB included the key cellular players endothelial cells that line the blood vessels supporting pericytes and astrocytes which are starshaped brain cells all arranged in a 3D structure with flowing fluidThe miniature BBBonachip 3DBBB was exposed to the parasite at its most explosive stage the moment it bursts out of red blood cells in a process called egressThe findings published in the journal Nature Communications indicated that the barrier had become more permeableIn addition analysis of gene expression at the singlecell level showed that cells were producing less of the proteins that keep the BBB sealed and more of the molecules that cause inflammationFurther the researchers successfully tested an approved drug Ruxolitinib on their 3DBBB model with results suggesting that it could be effective for deadly cases of malariaBy helping calm the inflammation in the blood vessels of the brain the drug reduced the leakiness of the BBB they saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever