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Techniques & applications

A new tool for liver-stage malaria

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 11, pages 596–597 (2013)Cite this article

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Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the two primary agents of human malaria. Following transmission by the bite of an infected Anopheles sp. mosquito, sporozoites migrate from the bloodstream to the liver, where they mature into schizonts that release thousands of merozoites back into the blood. These merozoites invade erythrocytes, leading to the main clinical symptoms and pathology of the disease. In addition, P. vivax can develop into dormant hypnozoites that persist in the liver and serve as a reservoir for relapsing infection and transmission. Because the liver stage is one of the earliest stages of infection, during which parasites replicate to high numbers, a robust and reliable system to reproduce this stage in vitro is a high research priority.

merozoites were released and could infect erythrocytes, thus completing the full liver stage.

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References

  1. March, S. et al. A microscale human liver platform that supports the hepatic stages of Plasmodium falciparum and vivax. Cell Host Microbe 14, 104–115 (2013)

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  1. Christina Tobin Kåhrström
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Kåhrström, C. A new tool for liver-stage malaria. Nat Rev Microbiol 11, 596–597 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro3097

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