Quartan malarial infections in Aotus trivirgatus with special reference to renal pathology

Abstract

This paper describes the renal immunopathology of Aotus trivirgatus (owl monkeys) infected with Plasmodium malariae or Plasmodium brasilianum.

The glomerular changes in the acute infections are different from those of the chronic infections. In the acute group there was evidence of endothelial cell damage and there was an increase in mesangial cells and matrix. IgM deposition was prominent, with a mesangial distribution and fibrin occluded some glomerular capillaries. In the animals with chronic infections mesangiocapillary lesions of variable extent were seen. These were of the membranoproliferative type and were most marked in the animal which developed the nephrotic syndrome. The immunofluorescence patterns were not so consistent in the chronic cases but IgM or C3 deposition was shown in the glomeruli of most cases.

The glomerular pathology noted in the infected animals, particularly in the one which developed nephrotic syndrome, shows close similarities to that seen in human cases of nephrotic syndrome associated with quartan malarial infections.