Plasmodium falciparum cultivation using the Petri Dish: revisiting the effect of the 'age' of erythrocytes and the interval of medium change.
Differences in the characteristics of the culture conditions can influence the multiplication rate of Plasmodium falciparum. The Petri dish method is one of the most popular methods of cultivating this parasite. In many previous studies, ideal culture conditions of the Petri dish method were achieved by using erythrocytes collected from blood that had been stored for at least 2 weeks, with daily changes of the medium. In the present study, we studied the multiplication rate of P. falciparum in cultures containing erythrocytes of various ages together with changing the medium at various intervals of time. Our results strongly suggest that the rate of in vitro multiplication of P. falciparum was higher in freshly collected erythrocytes than in aged erythrocytes regardless of the anticoagulant and that when the parasitemia is lower than 8% with a hematocrit of 5%, the medium change interval can be as long as 48 hr without a great reduction in the rate of multiplication.
Kim
Young A
YA
Department of Microbiology, Gachon Medical School, Incheon, Korea.
Cha
Je Eun
JE
Ahn
Sun Young
SY
Ryu
Seung Ho
SH
Yeom
Joon Sup
JS
Lee
Hyo Il
HI
Kim
Chang Gyun
CG
Seoh
Ju Young
JY
Park
Jae Won
JW
D000818:Animals; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D003470:Culture Media; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology*; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000254:growth & development*; D013997:Time Factors
D003470:Culture Media