Antimalarial Drug Strategies to Target Plasmodium Gametocytes

Strategies for Detection of Plasmodium species Gametocytes

Carriage and density of gametocytes, the transmission stages of malaria parasites, are determined for predicting the infectiousness of humans to mosquitoes. This measure is used for evaluating interventions that aim at reducing malaria transmission. Gametocytes need to be detected by amplification of stage-specific transcripts, which requires RNA-preserving blood sampling. For simultaneous, hig...

The apicoplast as an antimalarial drug target.

Resistance to commonly used malaria drugs is spreading and new drugs are required urgently. The recent identification of a relict chloroplast (apicoplast) in malaria and related parasites offers numerous new targets for drug therapy using well-characterized compounds. The apicoplast contains a range of metabolic pathways and housekeeping processes that differ radically to those of the host ther...

Gene expression in Plasmodium: from gametocytes to sporozoites.

Completion of the complex developmental program of Plasmodium in the mosquito is essential for parasite transmission, yet this part of its life cycle is still poorly understood. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in the identification and characterization of genes expressed during parasite development in the mosquito. This line of investigation was greatly facilitated by the a...

Developing Gametocytes and Schizonts of Plasmodium Falciparum

The following is the description ol' plate XXII (figures 1 to 16) illustrating the article on Developing gametocytes and schizonts of Plasmodium falciparum ; A case showing all stages in the peripheral circulation', by B. M. Das Gupta and S. K. Ganguli, published in the October issue of the Gazette (p. 458) which was, by error, omitted. Figures 1 to 7 developing crescents, 6 and 7 showing two i...

Developing Gametocytes and Schizonts of Plasmodium Falciparum