mini-column for cytoadherence: a new method for measuring the relative size of binding subpopulations in plasmodium falciparum isolates

background: cytoadherence of plasmodium falciparum - infected red blood cells to endothelial cells is an important mechanism for parasite survival and a major trigger for diseases pathology. here, we de­scribe a new adhesion assay in which different cell types (cho, cho/cd36 and cho/icam-1) are at­tached to cytodex beads in a mini-column format to measure the relative sizes of various binding subpopula­tions as a percentage of the total population. methods: relative size of cd36 and icam-1-binding subpopulations of erythrocytes infected with p. falcipa­rum were measured by amount of parasitemia before and after passing the infected erythrocytes through a particular column. results: the mini-column adhesion assay was a suitable method as parasitemia always reduced after pass­ing through a particular column in independent experiments. for example, in a typical experiment us­ing p. falciparum itg line, 75% of the parasites are retained on a cho/icam-1 while 0% of clone 3d7 is retained. conclusion: this work introduced and validated a method for measuring the relative size of parasite bind­ing subpopulations and the selection of them. also, the mini-column method is of value for assessments of cytoadherence and can be used as tool for different applications.