Plasmodium berghei: infectivity of mice to Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes

Experimental Parasitology
G A ButcherO Billker

Abstract

The infectivity of P. berghei-infected TO mice to mosquitoes declines rapidly 2 to 5 days after blood inoculation, in spite of rising numbers of gametocytes in the blood. This pattern is typical of many malaria infections and various factors, particularly specific and nonspecific immune responses, have previously been implicated in the decline. Here we report that (1) simple physiological changes in the mouse blood, namely, falling pH and bicarbonate levels induced by high parasitaemias, are responsible for the sustained inhibition of infectivity; (2) the inhibition is reversible in vivo by the addition of sodium bicarbonate alone; (3) the inhibition occurs at the point of exflagellation; (4) contrary to previous observations (Kawamoto et al. 1992), exflagellation in P. berghei, like that in P. gallinaceum (Bishop and McConnachie 1956; Nijhout and Carter 1978; Nijhout 1979) and P. falciparum (Ogwan'g et al. 1993), is dependent on extracellular bicarbonate; and (5) induction of exflagellation by a mosquito factor is bicarbonate dependent. These new observations are critical to the design and interpretation of experiments on other transmission blocking phenomena.

Citations

Jul 12, 2001·Infection and Immunity·G MargosP J Lachmann
Apr 5, 2000·Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene·S EnosseB Høgh
Aug 28, 2010·FASEB Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology·Stephan HeggeFriedrich Frischknecht
May 29, 2000·The Journal of Biological Chemistry·M F RomeroC M Sciortino
Sep 13, 2000·Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology·G A ButcherR E Sinden

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