Abstract

For the routine in vitro cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum, the initial parasitemia is usually adjusted to 1% to 2%. Large quantities of parasites in mature stages are desirable for most biochemical studies. Since only ring stages of the parasites normally appear in the peripheral blood of P. falciparum-infected Aotus monkeys, we have attempted to culture large quantities of parasites to older stages by a modification of the usual in vitro culture methods employed in this laboratory. This modification involves: 1) using moderately high parasitemia in the starting material; 2) addition of TES (N-tris[hydroxymethyl]methyl-2-aminoethansulfonic acid) as a supplementary buffer in our modified Harvard medium; 3) increasing the ratio of blood to culture medium from 1:9 to 1:18; and 4) using 250- and 500-ml flasks as culture vessels. The results obtained in a series of experiments using the modified technique indicate that we can produce mature stages of P. falciparum with parasitemia as high as 75%.

Keywords

ParasitemiaPlasmodium falciparumIn vitroLaboratory flaskBiologyPeripheral bloodChemistryMalariaImmunologyBiochemistryOrganic chemistry

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Publication Info

Year
1974
Type
article
Volume
23
Issue
6
Pages
1015-1018
Citations
12
Access
Closed

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Wasim A. Siddiqui, Jerome V. Schnell, Suzanne M. Richmond-Crum (1974). In Vitro Cultivation of Plasmodium Falciparum at High Parasitemia. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene , 23 (6) , 1015-1018. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.1974.23.1015

Identifiers

DOI
10.4269/ajtmh.1974.23.1015