In Vitro Cultivation of Plasmodium vivax using McCoy’s Medium

Malaria still poses a threat to the health of residents and travellers in tropical countries, which causes high morbidity and mortality. The present study was undertaken for cultivation of the Plasmodium vivax in McCoy’s 5A medium and observed for their growth. Cultivation of Plasmodium vivax was done according to modified method of Jensen and Trager (1980) in immature red blood cells (reticulocytes) at a 5% haematocrit in McCoy’s 5A medium. Culture medium was sterilized by filtration through a membrane filter of 0.22 μm porosity after addition of supplements. Complete McCoy’s 5A medium was taken in a sterile tissue culture flask and malarial parasites infected blood was added and incubated at 37oC in 5-10% CO2 incubator. Smears were prepared, stained and examined each day for growth of malarial parasites. Total 22 malaria positive samples were included in this study, out of which 15 were for Plasmodium vivax and 7 were mixed Plasmodium species (Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum). Inoculums were incubated at 37°C for 48 hours. After 48 hours of incubation the culture showed 40% growth of Plasmodium vivax and no growth of mixed Plasmodium species. McCoy’s 5A medium supplemented with L-glutamine, HEPES buffer, NaHCO3, hypoxanthine, 0.5% Albumax II and 50μg/ml Gentamicin was useful media for cultivation of Plasmodium vivax.