Shining a light on malaria’s covert operations
Sept. 4, 2008
In work that could lead to new ways of detecting and treating malaria, MIT researchers have used two advanced microscopy techniques to show in unprecedented detail how the malaria parasite attacks red blood cells.
The researchers' images show red blood cell membranes becoming less flexible, which causes the cells to clump as they try to navigate tiny blood vessels. They also show the destruction of hemoglobin, the critical molecule that red blood cells use to carry oxygen.
The images are made possible by microscopy techniques that reveal tiny vibrations in red blood cell membranes.
Clipped from: MIT zooms in on malaria-infected cells - MIT News Office
MIT news
MIT zooms in on malaria-infected cells
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Human red blood cells (RBCs) invaded by Plasmodium falciparum. Three dimensional maps of the refractive index and nanoscale cell membrane fluctuations of infected human RBCs were constructed at different maturation stages of the parasite's by two non-invasive optical techniques: Tomographic Phase Microscopy and Diffraction Phase Microscopy. Color added for visualization. Image courtesy / YongKeun Park, Michael Feld and Subra Suresh
3D images of a human red blood cell (RBC) invaded by malaria-inducing parasite Plasmodium falciparum, at different stages of parasite development. The images are based on 3D maps of the refractive index in the cell, recorded by the non-invasive optical technique of Tomographic Phase Microscopy. Healthy RBC exhibits a characteristic biconcave shape (left). During the early stage of parasite maturation (center), the parasitophorus vacuole is shown as yellow region. In the late schizont stage, parasitized RBC is subjected to severe morphological changes (right). The blue regions inside the cell indicate parasite-produced hemozoin, a crystallized form of digested hemoglobin. Image courtesy / YongKeun Park, Michael Feld and Subra Suresh
"By studying the way the cell membrane vibrations progressively change as the malaria parasite matures inside the cell, we can study the changes in its mechanical, elastic and dynamic properties," said Michael Feld, director of MIT's George Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory and a professor of physics.
Shining a light on malaria’s covert operations - R & D
MIT zooms in on malaria-infected cells - MIT News Office
Watching P. falciparum at Work - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com
MIT Physics Faculty: Michael S. Feld
DMSE - Faculty - Subra Suresh
