Quantitation of malaria parasite-erythrocyte cell-cell interactions using optical tweezers.

ABSTRACT: Erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum merozoites is an essential step for parasite survival and hence the pathogenesis of malaria. Invasion has been studied intensively, but our cellular understanding has been limited by the fact that it occurs very rapidly: invasion is generally complete within 1 min, and shortly thereafter the merozoites, at least in in vitro culture, lose their invasive capacity. The rapid nature of the process, and hence the narrow time window in which measurements can be taken, have limited the tools available to quantitate invasion. Here we employ optical tweezers to study individual invasion events for what we believe is the first time, showing that newly released P. falciparum merozoites, delivered via optical tweezers to a target erythrocyte, retain their

SUBMITTER: Crick AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4142257 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature