Development of the malaria parasite in the skin of the mammalian host

作者：Gueirard Pascale; Tavares Joana; Thiberge Sabine; Bernex Florence; Ishino Tomoko; Milon Genevieve; Franke Fayard Blandine; Janse Chris J; Menard Robert^*; Amino Rogerio

来源：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010, 107(43): 18640-18645.

DOI：10.1073/pnas.1009346107

• intravital imaging
• Plasmodium
• schizogony

The first step of Plasmodium development in vertebrates is the transformation of the sporozoite, the parasite stage injected by the mosquito in the skin, into merozoites, the stage that invades erythrocytes and initiates the disease. The current view is that, in mammals, this stage conversion occurs only inside hepatocytes. Here, we document the transformation of sporozoites of rodent-infecting Plasmodium into merozoites in the skin of mice. After mosquito bite, similar to 50% of the parasites remain in the skin, and at 24 h similar to 10% are developing in the epidermis and the dermis, as well as in the immunoprivileged hair follicles where they can survive for weeks. The parasite developmental pathway in skin cells, although frequently abortive, leads to the generation of merozoites that are infective to erythrocytes and are released via merosomes, as typically observed in the liver. Therefore, during malaria in rodents, the skin is not just the route to the liver but is also the final destination for many inoculated parasites, where they can differentiate into merozoites and possibly persist.

• 出版日期2010-10-26