Abstract
Direct detection and quantification of liver-stage Plasmodium parasites became possible with the development of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Here we describe the measurement of parasite burden in the livers of mice infected with the rodent malaria species, Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium yoelii. This method is based on detection of expression of parasite ribosomal 18S RNA and can serve as an endpoint to accurately evaluate the efficacy of vaccines targeting the preerythrocytic stages of malaria. This approach is fast and highly reproducible and allows quantification of liver-stage parasite burden in different mouse strains and different Plasmodium species after infection with a range of sporozoite challenge doses.
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Acknowledgement
This research was supported by the US Army Materiel Command. The views of the authors do not purport to reflect the position of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.
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Pichugin, A., Krzych, U. (2015). Detection of Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium yoelii Liver-Stage Parasite Burden by Quantitative Real-Time PCR. In: Vaughan, A. (eds) Malaria Vaccines. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1325. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2815-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2815-6_7
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2814-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2815-6
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