Nature Medicine
- 12, 220 - 224 (2006)
Published online: 22 January 2006; | doi:10.1038/nm1350
Quantitative imaging of Plasmodium transmission from mosquito to mammalRogerio Amino1, 4, Sabine Thiberge1, Béatrice Martin1, Susanna Celli2, Spencer Shorte3, Friedrich Frischknecht1, 4 & Robert Ménard11
Unité de Biologie et Génétique du Paludisme, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris, cedex 15, Paris, France. 2
Groupe Dynamique des Réponses Immunes, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris, cedex 15, Paris, France. 3
Plate-forme d'Imagerie Dynamique, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Dr Roux, 75724 Paris, cedex 15, Paris, France. 4
Present addresses: Departamento de Bioquimica, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Rua Três de Maio 100, 04044-020, Sao Paulo, S.P., Brazil (R.A.); Department of Parasitology, University of Heidelberg Medical School, Im Neuenheimer Feld 324, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany (F.F.).
Correspondence should be addressed to Rogerio Amino roti@ecb.epm.br or Friedrich Frischknecht freddy.frischknecht@med.uni-heidelberg.de or Robert Ménard rmenard@pasteur.fr
Plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria, is transmitted by a mosquito into the dermis and must reach the liver before infecting erythrocytes and causing disease. We present here a quantitative, real-time analysis of the fate of parasites transmitted in a rodent system. We show that only a proportion of the parasites enter blood capillaries, whereas others are drained by lymphatics. Lymph sporozoites stop at the proximal lymph node, where most are degraded inside dendritic leucocytes, but some can partially differentiate into exoerythrocytic stages. This previously unrecognized step of the parasite life cycle could influence the immune response of the host, and may have implications for vaccination strategies against the preerythrocytic stages of the parasite.
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