Berghei Model of Gestational is Associated with Decreased Locomotion and Increased Maternal Anxiety.

Gestational Malaria has adverse health effects on the mother and the neonate. It results in severe anemia, spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, cerebral malaria, and acute renal failure. At least 6 million worldwide are at risk of malaria infection in pregnancy, with at least 10,000 maternal deaths and 200,000 newborn deaths annually. It has been known as an obstetric, medical, and social problem requiring both multidisciplinary and multidimensional intervention; for this reason, this study investigated the effect of Gestational malaria on the cerebellum of adult female mice The study was performed on twenty-one mice (male and female) of almost the same age range and weighed about 16g to 22g, and they were divided into groups (infected and control group). The female mice were mated in the ratio of two to one male per cage. Pregnant mice were inoculated with Plasmodium berghei intraperitoneally. Bodyweight was taken regularly, and the animals went through neurobehavioral tests to measure fear, anxiety, locomotion, and balance. The mice were sacrificed after delivery, and the cerebellum was excised, weighed, and processed for histological analysis and stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin stain and Nissl stain The study revealed significant (p<0.05) alteration in body weight, fear, anxiety, balance, and locomotion. Histologically, there was a substantial decrease in the neuronal density and cell size of the cerebellum of the infected mice group compared with the control group Plasmodium berghei model of gestational malaria showed a reduction in locomotion and body weight and an increase in anxiety which was mediated via the morphological and functional derangement of the cerebellum Keywords: Gestational malaria, plasmodium Berghei, Anxiety, cerebellum, Locomotion.