Experimental Study on Plasmodium berghei, Anopheles Stephensi, and BALB/c Mouse System: Implications for Malaria Transmission Blocking Assays

Abstract

Background:Plasmodium berghei is a rodent malaria parasiteand has been very valuable means in the progress of our understanding of the essential molecular and cellular biology of the malaria parasites. Availability of hosts such as mice and vectors such as Anopheles stephensi has made this parasite a suitable system to study the parasite-host and vector-parasite relationships. Numerous studies have described life cycle and parameters influencing maintenance of the parasite within the mice or the mosquito. In this paper we revealed more details and have addressed some parameters and points influence maintenance of various life stages of the parasite (merozoites, macrogametocytes, ookinetes, oocysts and sporozoites) in the laboratory model P.berghei–A.stephensi-BALB/c mouse. This study helps understanding the biology of vertebrate-parasite and mosquito-malaria interactions that may aid in the development of a new generation of drug/vaccine and vector-based measures for malaria control.

Keywords

• Plasmodium berghei
• Anopheles stephensi
• BALB/c
• malaria
• life cycle