Development of a novel real-time method to study the erythrocytic life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum using Quartz Crystal Microbalances

Previous studies carried out by the Biosensor Research Group of the Institute of Clinical
and Experimental Transfusion Medicine at the Tübingen University had successfully
demonstrated determination of various blood types through the interaction of
erythrocytes with immobilised antibodies on a QCM. These studies have opened the
possibility to test new applications of this technique for the study of infectious diseases.
In our case, studies of the erythrocyte life cycle of P. falciparum, particularly during the last
six hours preceding the merozoite release and studies related to reinfection of by
merozoites were the focus of our investigation.
Release of malaria parasites of P. falciparum from infected erythrocyte at the end of their
asexual erythrocyte cycle occurs approximately every 48 hours, asynchronously in parasite
culture and synchronously in vivo. This process is poorly studied due to: (I) merozoite
release is a very short event (1% in the erythrocytes infected in situ.
Our results show, that the QCM technique is an appropriate and important new tool to
elucidate the biology of the re-invasion process of Plasmodia.