| Rodent Malaria Parasites |
| This page features some examples of the 4 species of rodent malaria parasites taken from the booklet "A Pictorial Guide to the Rodent Malaria Pasrasites". These photos are at low resolution for easy viewing on the web. For many more images, and at higher resolution, please download the full booklet by clicking on the link on the right. Large numbers of high resolution individual images are also available here |
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| Plasmodium berghei |
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| A map of the locations from which the various rodent parasites were isolated is shown above. The first of the rodent parasites to be discovered was P. berghei, which was found in the blood of a thicket rat, Grammomys surdaster, by Vincke and Lips in 1948. The discovery of P. vinckei followed in 1952, P. chabaudi in 1965, and P. yoelii was added to the taxonomy in 1974. |
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| The origins of the rodent malaria parasites (From Carlton,J.M.R., Hayton,M., Cravo,P.V.L., Walliker,D., 2001. Of mice and malaria mutants: unravelling the genetics of drug resistance using rodent malaria models. Trends in Parasitology 17, 236-242) |
| Introduction There are many reasons for using rodent malaria parasites as models for human malaria. The most obvious of these is the ease with which the whole life cycle (including the stages in mosquitoes) can be achieved in the laboratory. This is a crucial factor in studying malaria parasites, and one which is impossible to achieve with the human parasites with current methods and technology. Apart from the similarities in basic biology between the rodent and human malaria parasites, they share conserved genetics and genome organization, conserved housekeeping genes and biochemical processes, and there is considerable evidence for conservation of the molecular basis of drug-sensitivity and resistance. |
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| Above - P. berghei parasites in mouse blood Left - Four ring-stage trophozoites in one reticulocyte Right - P. berghei parasites in mouse blood displaying the asynchronicity of development characteristic of this species |
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| Plasmodium chabaudi |
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| Above - P. chabaudi Day 5 post-inoculation |
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| Left - Multiple infection of an erythrocyte Right - Gametocyte |
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| Below - P. chabaudi Day 7post-inoculation - high parasitaemia |
| Plasmodium vinckei |
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| Above - P. vinckei Day 9 post-inoculation. |
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| Above, left to right - Trophozoite; gametocyte; gametocyte |
| Mosquito Stage |
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| Above - P. yoelii (clone 17x) day 9 post-innoculation - note reticulocyte invasion preference |
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| Left - schizont Below - P. yoelii (YM) day 5 post-inoculation - this strain invades both reticulocytes and normocytes and is extremely virulent |
| The following photographs show rodent malaria parasites in the mosquito Anopheles stephensi. All parasites are P. yoelii unless otherwise indicated |
| The following photographs of rodent malaria parasites were all taken in Edinburgh in 2005. All blood stage parasites are stained with Giemsa's Solution. Hovering your mouse pointer over one or two of the photos will reveal how they look under polarised light.Please feel free to use these photographs, but please acknowledge the source. |
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| Above - mosquito mid-gut infected with oocysts of P. yoelii. The gut is flattened under a coverslip at x10 magnification. The oocysts appear as round objects most visible at the bottom left of the gut. |
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| Left - Oocyst of P. chabaudi, day 6 Post-infective bloodmeal. Note haemozoin at bottom left Below - P. yoelii oocyst, day 8 post-infective bloodmeal. |
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| Below - various P. yoelii oocyst, day 8 post-infective bloodmeal. |
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| Below - P. yoelii sporozoites, liberated from a day 8 oocyst by gentle pressure under a coverslip |
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| Plasmodium yoelii |
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