scholarly journals Transmission-Blocking Activities of Quinine, Primaquine, and Artesunate

2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1927-1930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kesinee Chotivanich ◽  
Jetsumon Sattabongkot ◽  
Rachanee Udomsangpetch ◽  
Sornchai Looareesuwan ◽  
Nicholas P. J. Day ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The infectivity of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes after exposure in vitro to quinine, artesunate, and primaquine was assessed in Anopheles dirus, a major vector of malaria in Southeast Asia. Mature gametocytes (stage 5) of a Thai isolate of P. falciparum were exposed to the drugs for 24 h in vitro before membrane feeding to A. dirus. After 10 days, the mosquito midguts were dissected and the oocysts were counted. In this system, artesunate showed the most potent transmission-blocking activity; the mean (standard deviation [SD]) 50% and 90% effective concentrations (EC50, and EC90, respectively, in nanograms per milliliter) were 0.1 (0.02) and 0.4 (0.15), respectively. Transmission-blocking activity of quinine and primaquine was observed at relatively high concentrations (SDs): EC50 of quinine, 642 (111) ng/ml; EC50 of primaquine, 181 (23) ng/ml; EC90 of quinine, 816 (96) ng/ml; EC90 of primaquine, 543 (43) ng/ml. Artesunate both prevents the maturation of immature P. falciparum gametocytes and reduces the transmission potential of mature gametocytes. Both of these effects may contribute to reducing malaria transmission.

1999 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 2334-2339 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Healer ◽  
A. Graszynski ◽  
E. Riley

ABSTRACT Phagocytosis of Plasmodium falciparum sexual stages in vitro and within the mosquito midgut was assayed in order to assess its role in transmission-blocking immunity to malaria. Both monocytes/macrophages (MM) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) phagocytosed malarial gametes in vitro, but levels of phagocytosis were low. Intraerythrocytic gametocytes were not susceptible to phagocytosis. In vitro phagocytosis was positively correlated with levels of antibodies against the gamete surface proteins Pfs230 and Pfs48/45. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclass analysis revealed that phagocytosis was correlated with levels of antigamete IgG1. In vivo membrane-feeding experiments were performed in the presence of both pooled and individual malaria immune sera. The phagocytic process proceeded less efficiently in vivo than in vitro, which may be related to the lower ambient temperature (26°C, compared with 37°C). Finally, although we found a correlation between the ability of a serum to promote phagocytosis in vitro and the presence of antibodies against transmission-blocking target antigens, we were unable to demonstrate a role for MM- or PMN-mediated phagocytosis in reduction of infectivity of the malarial parasite to mosquitoes.


Planta Medica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S1-S381
Author(s):  
A Donkor Forkuo ◽  
C Ansah ◽  
B Gyan ◽  
D Mancama ◽  
A Theron

Parasitology ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 128 (6) ◽  
pp. 577-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. IMRIE ◽  
D. J. P. FERGUSON ◽  
M. CARTER ◽  
J. DRAIN ◽  
A. SCHIFLETT ◽  
...  

Human serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) is necessary and sufficient for the short-term maintenance of Plasmodium falciparum in in vitro culture. However, at high concentrations it is toxic to the parasite. A heat-labile component is apparently responsible for the stage-specific toxicity to parasites within infected erythrocytes 12–42 h after invasion, i.e. during trophozoite maturation. The effects of HDL on parasite metabolism (as determined by nucleic acid synthesis) are evident at about 30 h after invasion. Parasites treated with HDL show gross abnormalities by light and electron microscopy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine A. Collins ◽  
Thomas Rückle ◽  
Suzanne Elliott ◽  
Louise Marquart ◽  
Emma Ballard ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT DSM265 is a novel antimalarial drug in clinical development that acts as a selective inhibitor of Plasmodium dihydroorotate dehydrogenase. In a previous phase 1b study, a single 150-mg dose of DSM265 showed partial efficacy against experimentally induced blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum malaria (IBSM). Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling predicted a human efficacious dose of 340 mg. The primary objectives of the current study were to determine the safety and efficacy of a single oral 400-mg dose of DSM265 against P. falciparum in the IBSM model. Eight healthy participants were inoculated intravenously with 2,800 parasites and treated with DSM265 7 days later. Unexpectedly, one participant did not develop parasitemia during the study. All other participants developed parasitemia, with the complete clearance of asexual parasites occurring following DSM265 treatment. All seven subjects also became gametocytemic. The secondary objectives were to investigate the gametocytocidal and transmission-blocking activity of a second 400-mg dose of DSM265, which was administered 23 days after inoculation. Gametocytes were not cleared by the second dose of DSM265, and transmission-blocking activity could not be determined due to low gametocyte densities. Three DSM265-related adverse events occurred, including a cutaneous rash in one subject on the day of the second DSM265 dose. The results obtained in this study support the prediction of the efficacious dose of DSM265 and provide further evidence that DSM265 is generally safe and well tolerated. In addition, this study confirms preclinical data indicating that DSM265 permits the development and maturation of gametocytes and does not clear mature circulating gametocytes. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under identifier NCT02573857.)


2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1510-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Gupta ◽  
M. M. Thapar ◽  
W. H. Wernsdorfer ◽  
A. Björkman

ABSTRACT The interactions of artemisinin with atovaquone, quinine, and mefloquine were investigated in three Plasmodium falciparum strains (strains F-32, FCR-3, and K-1) by an in vitro culture assay. The parasites were cultured for 48 h in the presence of different concentrations and proportions of two drugs at a time in a checkerboard design. The response parameters were determined, and the sums of the fractional inhibitory concentrations (ΣFICs) of the drug combinations were calculated for different degrees of inhibition (50% effective concentration [EC50], EC90, and EC99). Within therapeutically relevant molar ratios (19 to 200), the combination of quinine and artemisinin showed mean ΣFICs of 1.71 at the EC50, 0.36 at the EC90, and 0.13 at the EC99, indicating increasing synergism. Within the range of molar ratios of 4.3 to 50, the combination of mefloquine and artemisinin yielded mean ΣFCIs of 0.93, 0.44, and 0.31 at the EC50, EC90, and EC99, respectively, indicating synergism. The atovaquone combination showed additive activity to synergism at atovaquone/artemisinin proportions considered relevant to the in vivo situation, i.e., between 4.3 and 200, with the mean ΣFICs decreasing from 1.34 at the EC50 to 0.85 and 0.23 at the EC90 and EC99, respectively. Interstrain differences in the degree of drug interaction were seen with the three strains for all combinations. Synergism was most consistent with quinine.


1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 2300-2301 ◽  
Author(s):  
M D Edstein ◽  
S Bahr ◽  
B Kotecka ◽  
G D Shanks ◽  
K H Rieckmann

The in vitro activities of the new biguanide PS-15 and its putative active metabolite, WR99210, were determined against seven different isolates or clones of Plasmodium falciparum. The mean 50% inhibitory concentrations of PS-15 and WR99210 were 1,015 and 0.06 ng/ml, respectively. WR99210 was up to 363 times more potent than cycloguanil, the active metabolite of proguanil, against cycloguanil-resistant parasites. The pronounced activity of WR99210 against multidrug-resistant P. falciparum indicates that further studies are required to determine the value of the prodrug, PS-15, as an antimalarial agent.


Blood ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. YOSHIDA ◽  
D. G. OSMOND

Abstract Radioautography with 3H-thymidine was used to examine the proliferative activity of bone marrow lymphoid cells and to identify the precursor cells of small lymphocytes in short-term cultures of lymphocyte-rich marrow fractions. High concentrations of small lymphocytes (nuclear diameters less than 8.0 µ in smears) together with large lymphoid ("transitional") cells (nuclear diameters greater than 8.0 µ) were separated from suspensions of guinea pig bone marrow by centrifugation in linear sucrose-serum density gradients. When such lymphocyte-rich marrow fractions were cultured in vitro the labeling and mitotic indices following either continuous or terminal exposure to 3H-thymidine indicated that the large lymphoid cells were confined mainly to the pre-DNA-synthetic (G1) and early DNA-synthetic (S) phases at first, but proceeded subsequently through S phase and mitosis. From these data tentative values were derived for the in vitro duration of G1 (12 hours) and S (13.7 hours). Further cultures were followed radioautographically after a 1-hour pulse of 3H-thymidine at 6-7 hours of culture. The absolute numbers of labeled large lymphoid cells declined during the subsequent 21 hours but, simultaneously, labeled small lymphocytes appeared and increased progressively in absolute numbers to 44.4 ± 8.1 per cent of the initial numbers of labeled large lymphoid cells. The mean grain count of labeled small lymphocytes was half that of the initially labeled large lymphoid cells. Very few labeled undifferentiated cells other than large lymphoid cells were observed. The results demonstrate that lymphocyte-rich marrow fractions are capable of sustaining the production of small lymphocytes in short-term cultures and that the immediate precursors of marrow small lymphocytes are contained within a population of large lymphoid cells.


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