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The importance of parasite load in the killing of Plasmodium vinckei in mice treated with Corynebacterium parvum or alloxan monohydrate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

F. E. G. Cox
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS
Stephanie M. Millott
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS

Summary

Mice pre-treated with Corynebacterium parvum and later challenged with Plasmodium vinckei become infected but do not die whereas control mice do. When pre-treated mice were challenged with 1, 10, 1 × 102, 1 × 104, 1 × 105 or 1 × 106 parasites, the pre-patent periods correlated directly with the number of parasites injected, but the subsequent parasitaemias reached similar levels. This suggests that parasite killing, resulting from pre-treatment with C. parvum, is not triggered until the parasite load has reached a particular threshold. The injection of alloxan monohydrate, which brings about the release of toxic oxygen inter mediates thought to be involved in non-specific immunity, has little effect on P. vinckei infections until the parasitaemia is relatively high. This indicates that oxygen-mediated parasite killing also does not occur until the parasitaemia has reached a particular threshold. It is suggested that it is only at relatively high parasitaemias that the factors involved in parasite killing are able to enter the infected red blood cells.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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