Cerebral malaria： An interactive brain mapping study

Somsri Wiwanitkit， Beuy Joob， Viroj Wiwanitkit

1Wiwanitkit House， Bangkhae， Bangkok， Thailand

2Sanitationl Medical Academic Center， Bangkok， Thailand

3Hainan Medical University， Haikou， Hainan， China

Cerebral malaria： An interactive brain mapping study

Somsri Wiwanitkit1✉， Beuy Joob2， Viroj Wiwanitkit3

1Wiwanitkit House， Bangkhae， Bangkok， Thailand

2Sanitationl Medical Academic Center， Bangkok， Thailand

3Hainan Medical University， Haikou， Hainan， China

Article history：

Received 15 May 2016

Received in revised form 16 June 2016

Accepted 15 July 2016

Available online 20 August 2016

Cerebral malaria

Mapping study

Interactive

This short communication discusses an interactive brain mapping study using connectomics technique on an important neurological complication of a common tropical infection， malaria. According to this study， the molecules and cells related to cerebral malaria can be successfully identified. The derived data can be useful for further study on pathophysiology and drug search for cerebral malaria.

Dear Editor，

Malaria is still an important tropical mosquito borne disease. It can cause many serious complication including to cerebral malaria［1，2］. The cerebral malaria is a fatal complication of malaria that can be difficult to be managed［1，2］. The pathophysiology of cerebral malaria is an interesting research topic due to the lack of complete information. The recent report by Hu［3］ using microarray analysis to study the gene expression is an interesting attempt. However， this report［3］ does not give a structural and functional interrelationship. Here， the authors perform an interactive brain mapping study on cerebral malaria. The connectomics technique namely ‘Gogli’（http：//www.usegolgi.com/golgi.php） is used for structural study［4］. For the online brain mapping， the primary data on structural pathology is used as input information. Based on the referenced publication by Polder et al.［5］， the main neuropathology can be seen at ‘caudatus putamen’ and ‘the adjacent regions （radiatio corporis callosi， claustrum， hippocampus， and fimbria hippocampi）’. The online Golgi tool is used to assess these structures to find corresponding molecules and cells. Based on this study， the detected molecules are alpha 3 subunit nicotinic receptor， beta 2 subunit nicotinic receptor and sulfhydryl oxidase and detected cells are purkinje neuron， cerebellar granule cell and golgi neuron big. It can be seen that the identified molecules and cells should be the targets for further study on pathophysiology of cerebral malaria.

The results can help explain previous questionable observation on neuropathology at cerebellum in cerebral malaria［6，7］. In addition，the findings of new drugs for management of cerebral malaria can target on those identified molecules and cells. Of interest， the recent report by Stone et al. also supports the present study［8］. Stone et al. noted that ‘the oxidative pathway for the metabolism of kynurenic acid which is an antagonist at glutamate and nicotinic receptors’is the main focus for further study on pathophysiology and rug development for cerebral malaria［8］.

Conflict of interest statement

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.06.020

✉Corresponding and first author： Somsri Wiwanitkit， Wiwanitkit House， Bangkhae，Bangkok 10160， Thailand.

Email： somsriwiwan@hotmail.com

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