Can Plasmodium be cultured in a lab?
Life cycle stages of the four species that infect humans have been established in vitro. Of these four, P. falciparum remains the only species for which all stages have been cultured in vitro; different degrees of success have been achieved with the other human Plasmodium spp.
How is Plasmodium species diagnosed?
Malaria parasites can be identified by examining under the microscope a drop of the patient’s blood, spread out as a “blood smear” on a microscope slide. Prior to examination, the specimen is stained (most often with the Giemsa stain) to give the parasites a distinctive appearance.
What is resistant to Plasmodium?
Since then, chloroquine resistance has spread to nearly all areas of the world where falciparum malaria is transmitted. P. falciparum has also developed resistance to nearly all of the other currently available antimalarial drugs, such as sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, mefloquine, halofantrine, and quinine.
What is P. falciparum positive?
A positive result means that you have the parasites in your blood and that you may have malaria.
How is Plasmodium cultured?
Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 parasites were cultured in a complete medium at 1% haematocrit at 37°C in a 5% CO2/3% O2/balanced N2 gas mixture as described previously [10]. Human red blood cells (RBCs) were washed three times, stored at 4-8°C, and used within three weeks.
How do you identify Plasmodium falciparum?
The most definitive finding of P. falciparum is the shape of the gametocytes. Unlike what we see in the other species of malaria, they are crescent-shaped or banana-shaped.
How do you control Plasmodium falciparum?
falciparum infection, prompt treatment with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine (treatment schedule as for non-pregnant adult patients) is recommended. For chloroquine-resistant P. vivax infections, quinine plus clindamycin, or mefloquine should be given instead.
What factors give natural protection against Plasmodium infection?
The sickle cell trait (hemoglobin S), thalassemias, hemoglobin C, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency are protective against death from P falciparum malaria, with the sickle cell trait being relatively more protective than the other 3.
Why do antimalarial drugs become ineffective?
Over the last century, almost every frontline antimalarial drug – chloroquine, sulfadoxine, pyrimethamine – has become obsolete because of defiant parasites that emerged from western Cambodia. From this cradle of resistance, the parasites gradually spread west to Africa, causing the deaths of millions.
Why use Plasmodium falciparum growth inhibition assays?
Plasmodium falciparum in vitro growth inhibition assays are widely used to evaluate and quantify the functional activity of acquired and vaccine-induced antibodies and the anti-malarial activity of known drugs and novel compounds.
How do you test for growth inhibition in Pseudomonas falciparum?
In vitro growth inhibition assays were performed over one or two cycles of P. falciparum asexual replication using inhibitory polyclonal antibodies raised in rabbits, an inhibitory monoclonal antibody, human serum samples, and anti-malarials. Parasitaemia was evaluated by microscopy and flow cytometry.
How is parasitaemia measured in growth inhibition assays?
The most readily available, simplest and most widely used method for measuring parasitaemia in growth inhibition assays is light microscopy [29,30,33,36-40].
What is the role of IgG3 in the pathophysiology of Plasmodium falciparum infection?
Plasmodium falciparum: a major role for IgG3 in antibody-dependent monocyte-mediated cellular inhibition of parasite growth in vitro. Exp Parasitol. 2001;98:20–28. doi: 10.1006/expr.2001.4619. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]