title: Mini-Column for Cytoadherence: A New Method for Measuring the Relative Size of Binding Subpopulations in Plasmodium falciparum Isolates.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum- infected red blood cells to endothelial cells is an important mechanism for parasite survival and a major trigger for diseases pathology. Here, we describe a new adhesion assay in which different cell types (CHO, CHO/CD36 and CHO/ICAM-1) are attached to Cytodex beads in a mini-column format to measure the relative sizes of various binding subpopulations as a percentage of the total population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relative size of CD36 and ICAM-1-binding subpopulations of erythrocytes infected with P. falciparum were measured by amount of parasitemia before and after passing the infected erythrocytes through a particular column.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mini-column adhesion assay was a suitable method as parasitemia always reduced after passing through a particular column in independent experiments. For example, in a typical experiment using P. falciparum ITG line, 75% of the parasites are retained on a CHO/ICAM-1 while 0% of clone 3D7 is retained.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work introduced and validated a method for measuring the relative size of parasite binding subpopulations and the selection of them. Also, the mini-column method is of value for assessments of cytoadherence and can be used as tool for different applications.
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cellular Biology Research Center, Laboratory Sciences Group, Faculty of Paramedical, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalantari
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghaffari