ArticleTropical medicine and health2026
Gut microbiota bidirectionally influences protection and severity in cerebral malaria in mice.
Article in Tropical medicine and health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMalaria caused by Plasmodium parasites leads to severe complications, such as cerebral malaria; however, the influence of the gut microbiota on the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria remains unclear. Here, the effects of antibiotic-induced microbiota alteration on experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) were examined.
methodsMale C57BL/6N mice that were administered drinking water containing a four-antibiotic cocktail, ampicillin, neomycin, metronidazole and vancomycin, from 2 weeks before P. berghei ANKA (PbA) infection were used for the experiments. Disease progression, blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity, immune responses, and gut microbiota composition were evaluated.
resultsApproximately 80% of mice with modified gut microbiota avoided ECM and showed reduced BBB disruption and lymphocyte infiltration into the brain. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed specific bacterial species that contributed to either the protection or pathogenesis of ECM. The mono-colonization of germ-free mice revealed that distinct bacterial species could attenuate or exacerbate ECM symptoms, independent of antibiotic effects.
conclusionsThe findings highlight that distinct gut microbial populations can modulate host susceptibility or resistance to ECM, underscoring the important influence of the intestinal microbiota on infectious disease outcomes. This work broadens the understanding of host‒microbe interactions and may inform new strategies for managing cerebral malaria through microbiota modulation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.