title: Blood Stage Plasmodium falciparum Exhibits Biological Responses to Direct Current Electric Fields.
abstract: The development of resistance to insecticides by the vector of malaria and the increasingly faster appearance of resistance to antimalarial drugs by the parasite can dangerously hamper efforts to control and eradicate the disease. Alternative ways to treat this disease are urgently needed. Here we evaluate the in vitro effect of direct current (DC) capacitive coupling electrical stimulation on the biology and viability of Plasmodium falciparum. We designed a system that exposes infected erythrocytes to different capacitively coupled electric fields in order to evaluate their effect on P. falciparum. The effect on growth of the parasite, replication of DNA, mitochondrial membrane potential and level of reactive oxygen species after exposure to electric fields demonstrate that the parasite is biologically able to respond to stimuli from DC electric fields involving calcium signaling pathways.
authors.affiliation: Center of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.|Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, 522 510, A.P., India.
authors.forename: Lorena M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Coronado
authors.affiliation: School of Biotechnology, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud "William C. Gorgas", Universidad Latina, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Stephania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montealegre
authors.affiliation: School of Biotechnology, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud "William C. Gorgas", Universidad Latina, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Zumara
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chaverra
authors.affiliation: National Center for Metrology of Panama (CENAMEP AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mojica
authors.affiliation: National Center for Metrology of Panama (CENAMEP AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Espinosa
authors.affiliation: Center of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Almanza
authors.affiliation: Center of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.|Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, 522 510, A.P., India.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stoute
authors.affiliation: Center for Biodiversity & Drug Discovery (CBDD), INDICASAT AIP, City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Rolando A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Gittens
authors.affiliation: Center of Cellular and Molecular Biology of Diseases (CBCMe), Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT AIP), City of Knowledge, Panama, Republic of Panama.
authors.forename: Carmenza
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3002-9467
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spadafora
mesh_terms: D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology; D004261:DNA Replication; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004560:Electricity; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species