title: Plasmodium berghei: inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase block exoerythrocytic schizogony.
abstract: DL-alpha-difluoromethylornithine and DL-alpha-monofluoromethyldehydroornithine methyl ester, inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase, blocked exoerythrocytic schizogony of Plasmodium berghei in mice and in cultured human hepatoma cells. These effects were reversed by exogenous administration of the polyamine, spermidine. The antimalarial drug, primaquine, the side chain of which is structurally analogous to a natural polyamine, did not enhance the activity of alpha-difluoromethylornithine or alpha-monofluoromethyldehydroornithine methyl ester. These results extend previous observations that polyamines influence the malaria parasite's schizogony outside the red blood cell but not within it.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hollingdale
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: McCann
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sjoerdsma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; D002460:Cell Line; D000518:Eflornithine; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms; D008288:Malaria / Q000469:parasitology; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009952:Ornithine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D065108:Ornithine Decarboxylase Inhibitors; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D011319:Primaquine / Q000494:pharmacology; D013095:Spermidine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D065108:Ornithine Decarboxylase Inhibitors; D009952:Ornithine; D011319:Primaquine; D013095:Spermidine; D000518:Eflornithine