Highly Sensitive and Rapid Characterization of the Development of Synchronized Blood Stage Malaria Parasites Via Magneto-Optical Hemozoin Quantification
Mária Pukáncsik,
Petra Molnár,
Ágnes Orbán,
Ádám Butykai,
Lívia Marton,
István Kézsmárki,
Beáta G. Vértessy,
Mohd Kamil,
Amanah Abraham,
Ahmed S. I. Aly
Affiliations
Mária Pukáncsik
Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and MTA-BME Lendület Magneto-optical Spectroscopy Research Group, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
Petra Molnár
Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and MTA-BME Lendület Magneto-optical Spectroscopy Research Group, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
Ágnes Orbán
Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and MTA-BME Lendület Magneto-optical Spectroscopy Research Group, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
Ádám Butykai
Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and MTA-BME Lendület Magneto-optical Spectroscopy Research Group, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
Lívia Marton
Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
István Kézsmárki
Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and MTA-BME Lendület Magneto-optical Spectroscopy Research Group, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
Beáta G. Vértessy
Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
Mohd Kamil
Beykoz Institute of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul 34093, Turkey
Amanah Abraham
Department of Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
Ahmed S. I. Aly
Beykoz Institute of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul 34093, Turkey
The rotating-crystal magneto-optical diagnostic (RMOD) technique was developed as a sensitive and rapid platform for malaria diagnosis. Herein, we report a detailed in vivo assessment of the synchronized Plasmodium vinckei lentum strain blood-stage infections by the RMOD method and comparing the results to the unsynchronized Plasmodium yoelii 17X-NL (non-lethal) infections. Furthermore, we assess the hemozoin production and clearance dynamics in chloroquine-treated compared to untreated self-resolving infections by RMOD. The findings of the study suggest that the RMOD signal is directly proportional to the hemozoin content and closely follows the actual parasitemia level. The lack of long-term accumulation of hemozoin in peripheral blood implies a dynamic equilibrium between the hemozoin production rate of the parasites and the immune system’s clearing mechanism. Using parasites with synchronous blood stage cycle, which resemble human malaria parasite infections with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, we are demonstrating that the RMOD detects both hemozoin production and clearance rates with high sensitivity and temporal resolution. Thus, RMOD technique offers a quantitative tool to follow the maturation of the malaria parasites even on sub-cycle timescales.
