Modification by a latent contaminant of glomerular pathology in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei.

This study was designed to determine, by means of electron microscopy, the effect of latent contaminants-which are associated with the syringe passage of the parasite-on the findings in the glomeruli of P. berghei-infected mice. A rapid alteration of the glomerular basement membrane was observed in mice infected with the syringe-transmitted N strain, but not in those infected with the cyclically passaged Nig strain. Glomerular changes were also seen in mice inoculated with nonparasitized blood from normal mice, obtained after 16 passages by syringe. It appears that these changes were provoked by a latent contaminant that had proliferated after passages of the parasite through mice, and that they constitute a secondary immune reaction.