Abstract
Spleen is a major immune organ that plays an important role during malaria infection. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that affects many body organs including spleen However, the effect of Plasmodrum chabaudi infection on the spleen of the murine lupus model BWF1 with the comparison between live and gamma irradiated parasite was not studied before. A total of 30 female BWFI mice were randomly divided into three groups as follows group (I) control group (lupus uninfected); group (II) live P. chabaudi infected group (lupus + live P. chabaudi infection); and group (III) irradiated P. chabaudi-infected group (lupus + irradiated P. chabaudi-infection) All groups were killed at day 14 post infection Histological and biochemical investigations were performed Live P. chabaudi infection was accompanied with an increase in spleen weight in comparison to either the control or the gamma irradiated P. chabaudi infected group. Differential count of WBCs has revealed an increase in lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes count in plasma samples of the live P. chabaudi infected group in comparison to either the control or the gamma irradiated P. chabaudi infected group. Additionally, live P chabaudi infection has resulted in histopathological changes and increased apoptotic cell death in splenic tissue of infected mice. Moreover, infection with live P. chabaudi was accompanied with an increase in NO, H2O2, and MDA levels in splenic tissue of lupus mice in comparison to either control or gamma irradiated P. chabaudi infected group Our data reveal that infection of lupus mice with live P. chabaudi has several effects on the splenic tissue on the histological and biochemical levels Parasite irradiation with gamma rays can abrogate these effects