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Lamellar membranes associated with rhoptries in erythrocytic merozoites of Plasmodium knowlesi: a clue to the mechanism of invasion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

L. H. Bannister
Affiliation:
Departments of Anatomy and Chemical Pathology, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London SE1 9RT
G. H. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Chemical Pathology, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London SE1 9RT
G. A. Butcher
Affiliation:
Chemical Pathology, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London SE1 9RT
E. D. Dennis
Affiliation:
Chemical Pathology, Guy's Hospital Medical School, London SE1 9RT

Summary

In merozoites of Plasmodium knowlesi, rhoptries have a dense substructure of fine (2·5 nm diameter) granules and short rods. These are not altered by lipid extraction, and stain with ethanolic phosphotungstate indicating a proteinaceous composition. Various types of fixation also show multilamellar whorls with a periodicity of 5–7 rim in the tips of rhoptries or extruded at the merozoite apex. In merozoites fixed during invasions of red cells, membrane continuity typically occurs between the rim of the rhoptry canal and the red cell membrane, but where this contact has apparently been lost, extensive membranous whorls and blebs are often found at the apex of the parasite. Similar structures occur at the spices of merozoites within late-stage schizonts. It is suggested that the same mechanism which generates these lamellae forms the parasitophorous vacuole by inserting membranous elements formed by the parasite into the red cell membrane, so causing its invagination. A similar mechanism may be responsible for the release of merozoites from the late-stage schizont.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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