RESUMO
Defense against malaria depends upon amplification of the spleen structure and function for the clearance of parasitized red blood cells (pRBC). We studied the distribution and amount of CD34(+) cells in the spleens of mice infected with rodent malaria. We sought to identify these cells in the spleen and determine their relationship to infection. C57BL/6J mice were infected with self-resolving, Plasmodium chabaudi CR, or one of the lethal rodent malaria strains, P. chabaudi AJ and P. berghei ANKA. We then recorded parasitemia, mortality, and the presence of CD34(+) cells in spleen, as determined by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. In the non-lethal strain, the spleen structure was maintained during amplification, but disrupted in lethal models. The abundance of CD34(+) cells increased in the red pulp on the 4th and 6th days p.i. in all models, and subsided on the 8th day p.i. Faint CD34(+) staining on the 8th day p.i., was probably due to differentiation of committed cell lineages. In this work, increase of spleen CD34(+) cells did not correlate with infection control.