Red Cell ATP and Malaria Infection

Abstract

SEVERAL genetic polymorphisms involving haemoglobin and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase are thought to provide a measure of protection against human malarias¹. These are all single gene traits, but quantitative variables within the human red cell may also be of importance. Thus Brewer and Powell² have demonstrated a strong positive correlation between the level of erythrocyte ATP and the rapidity with which a parasitaemia of 1,000 per mm³ is reached during experimental infections of humans with falciparum malaria. The higher the level of red cell ATP, the more rapidly parasitaemia develops, at least in the early stages of infection. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between red cell ATP level and the development of parasitaemia in a different species infected with a different form of malaria.