STUDIES ON THE EXTRACELLULAR CULTIVATION OF AN INTRACELLULAR PARASITE (AVIAN MALARIA)

Abstract

The extracellular survival and development in vitro of the erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium lophurae were favored by the addition to the culture medium of l-malic acid and concentrates rich in coenzyme A. In a concentrated extract of duck erythrocytes supplemented with these two substances in addition to adenosinetriphosphate, sodium pyruvate, and certain other materials of like nature, only 5 to 10 per cent of the extracellular parasites had become abnormal after 3 days of cultivation.