Blood Stage Plasmodium falciparum Exhibits Biological Responses to Direct Current Electric Fields

PLoS One. 2016 Aug 18;11(8):e0161207. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161207. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

The development of resistance to insecticides by the vector of malaria and the increasingly faster appearance of resistance to antimalarial drugs by the parasite can dangerously hamper efforts to control and eradicate the disease. Alternative ways to treat this disease are urgently needed. Here we evaluate the in vitro effect of direct current (DC) capacitive coupling electrical stimulation on the biology and viability of Plasmodium falciparum. We designed a system that exposes infected erythrocytes to different capacitively coupled electric fields in order to evaluate their effect on P. falciparum. The effect on growth of the parasite, replication of DNA, mitochondrial membrane potential and level of reactive oxygen species after exposure to electric fields demonstrate that the parasite is biologically able to respond to stimuli from DC electric fields involving calcium signaling pathways.

MeSH terms

  • Calcium Signaling / physiology
  • DNA Replication
  • Electric Stimulation*
  • Electricity
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial
  • Plasmodium falciparum / growth & development
  • Plasmodium falciparum / metabolism
  • Plasmodium falciparum / physiology*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism

Substances

  • Reactive Oxygen Species

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, www.gatesfoundation.org [grant number 51797] to CS and JAS; the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Panamá, www.senacyt.gob.pa [Ph.D. scholarships] to LMC and RC; and National System of Investigators, Panama, www.senacyt.gob.pa [grant numbers 38-2014, 91-2015] to CS and RG.