title: Assay of beta-hematin formation by malaria parasite.
abstract: Novel leads are urgently required for designing antimalarials due to the reduced efficacy of presently available drugs. The malaria parasite has a unique reaction of heme polymerization, which has attracted much attention in the recent past as a target for the design of antimalarial drugs. The process is hampered by non-availability of a proper assay method. Currently available methods are cumbersome and require advanced instrumentation or radioactive substrates. Here, we are describing an assay for hemozoin formation that is simple and reproducible. This assay has routinely been used by us for the identification of potential compounds with antimalarial activity.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Tekwani
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Puri
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Chauhan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001681:Biological Assay; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / Q000379:methods; D006418:Heme / Q000032:analysis; D006427:Hemin / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010967:Plasmodium yoelii / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D006418:Heme; D006427:Hemin