Mechanisms of hematin crystallization and inhibition by the antimalarial drug chloroquine.

ABSTRACT: Hematin crystallization is the primary mechanism of heme detoxification in malaria parasites and the target of the quinoline class of antimalarials. Despite numerous studies of malaria pathophysiology, fundamental questions regarding hematin growth and inhibition remain. Among them are the identity of the crystallization medium in vivo, aqueous or organic; the mechanism of crystallization, classical or nonclassical; and whether quinoline antimalarials inhibit crystallization by sequestering hematin in the solution, or by blocking surface sites crucial for growth. Here we use time-resolved in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) and show that the lipid subphase in the parasite may be a preferred growth medium. We provide, to our knowledge, the first evidence of the molecular mechanisms of hem

SUBMITTER: Olafson KN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4413305 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature