One of the severe complications of a Plasmodium falciparum infection is cerebral malaria (CM). CM is characterised by the accumulation of mature infected red blood cells (RBC) in the brain microvasculature. One of the consistent detrimental effects of sequestration is the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), often with a fatal outcome in children in endemic areas. This study investigates the mechanisms underlying BBB breakdown secondary to sequestration, using immortalised human brain microvascular endothelial cells (tHBEC) as an in-vitro model of BBB and ITG-strain Plasmodium falciparum. First, the tHBEC monolayer was co-cultured with Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cell (PRBC) or uninfected red blood cells (uRBC) control for 20 hours and the supernatant was recovered for subsequent analysis. The co-culture supernatants showed upregulation of inflammatory mediators (MCP-1 and IL-8) and a member of metalloproteases (ADAMTS-1, ADAMTS-4, MMP-2 and MMP-9) in the PRBC-tHBEC co-culture supernatants. The PRBC-tHBEC co-culture supernatants induced loss of endothelial cell monolayer integrity, represented by real time reduction in the transendothelial electrical resistance, measured using Electrical Cell-Substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS™). The same supernatants also increased the permeability of tHBEC monolayer to the fluorescently labelled 40 kDa dextran showing leakage across the tHBEC monolayer. Interestingly, the loss of barrier function of tHBEC monolayer is partially inhibited by the addition of protease inhibitors GM6001 and rhTIMP-3. Prolonged exposure to PRBC-tHBEC co-culture supernatants reduced the level of vinculin. This study demonstrates that the interactions between PRBC and tHBEC induces activation of tHBEC and the release of proteases that contribute to BBB breakdown in CM, and could be a potential drug target for adjunct therapy in CM.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:699677 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Mohd Nasir, Mohd Hamzah |
| Publisher | Keele University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/3252/ |
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