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Large amounts of immune complexes were present in the serum of infected rats early in infection when parasitemias were low. As the infection progressed and parasitemia increased and then decreased, the amounts of immune complexes in the serum also fell. This result suggests that increased efficiency of complex clearance was an important factor in determining the levels of immune complexes in the serum. In high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the complexes in the serum migrated as a peak with material of 350 kDa and greater in mass. They sedimented in a sucrose gradient as a band with a sedimentation coefficient of 22 s, which was calculated to yield a mass of approximately 1100 kDa. Immunoelectrophoresis and radial immunodiffusion showed that IgG was the major immunoglobulin in the complexes. As the IgG content of the complexes increased, the levels of complexes in the serum generally decreased. HPLC analysis of precipitated complexes suggested that they contained loosely bound albumin. Serum proteins were affected by the infection. A depletion of free immunoglobulin was observed during the initial period of immune complex formation.

Acute phase serum (APS) given at the time of challenge with Plasmodium berghei inhibited the generation to immunity to the infecting plasmodia. Administered with a single dose of vaccine, it inhibited induction of immunity by the vaccine. Three weekly doses, the last given two weeks before infection, induced immunity. Administration of vaccine simultaneously with infection neither aggravated nor ameliorated the infection. These results indicate that the effect of administration of APS on immunity generated by immunization or infection is dose- and time-dependent. The depression of immunity induced by this serum is thus temporary, the host finally overcoming the depression and responding to the plasmodial antigen in the serum. The interaction of vaccine and infection observed indicates that the introduction of vaccine is not detrimental to the individual incubating infection; rather, the vaccine is rendered useless, the reducing the aggregate benefit of the immunization to the group.

The ELISA test titers and RIPA patterns of sera collected from vaccinated and non-vaccinated rats during P. berghei infection were similar. The sera collected just after clearance of parasitemia from the vaccinated rats, but not that from the non-vaccinated rats protected mice in passive protection tests. After precipitation to remove immune complexes, the sera from the non-vaccinated rats also protected mice. Administration of acute phase serum early in the course of infection aggravated parasitemia and delayed recovery from P. berghei infection in rats. Administration of hyperimmune serum early in the course of infection initially reduced parasitemia but then delayed recovery of rats from P. berghei infection. These results suggest that immune complexes may interfere with antibody mediated immunity to P. berghei and may also retard development of the induced immune response.