OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to demonstrate that apoptosis in Plasmodium falciparum can be measured using kits originally designed for mammalian cells. The antimalarial chloroquine and antibiotics tigecycline and telithromycin were used to show the performance of the assays.

METHODS: Nuclear stain DAPI fluorescence was used to estimate cytotoxicity. Apoptotic assays used were: CaspaTag™ for caspase activation, acridine orange for nuclear condensation, and TUNEL for DNA fragmentation.

RESULTS: The IC50 values (95% confidence interval) for telithromycin (TL), tigecycline (TG) and chloroquine (CQ) were found to be 1.00 (0.47-1.53) µM, 4.56 (2.32-6.80) µM, and 0.019 (0.0089-0.029) µM, respectively. Activated caspase-like molecules seemed to be present in all erythrocytic stages, appearing to rise and fall with cell cycle progression with drug exposure appearing to dysregulate this pattern. Nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation occurred late in the untreated erythrocytic life cycle of the parasite but were advanced by drug exposure.

CONCLUSION: The study shows that drug-induced apoptosis can be measured in Plasmodium falciparum using the methods. These assays could be used for drug discovery, in particular, using high throughput flow cytometry.

Animal ; Chloroquine ; Antimalarials ; Plasmodium Falciparum ; Telithromycin ; Parasites ; Tigecycline ; Dna Fragmentation ; Apoptosis ; Dapi ; Ketolides ; Minocycline ; Erythrocytes

Background and Objective: Schistosoma japonicum is the causative agent of schistosomiasis in the Philippines. Current diagnostics suffer from low sensitivity and accuracy, hence an accurate and reliable diagnosis of schistosomiasis is essential for its prevention and control. In this study, a PCR-based assay for the detection of Schistosoma japonicumfor patient stool and serum samples was developed. Methodology: Three candidate primer sets targeting mitochondrial genes COX3, NAD4, and NAD5 were assessed. COX3 primer pair was used for the rest of the study for sensitivity, specificity, and performance testing. Lastly, the assay using COX3 primer pair was compared to Kato-Katz and circumoval precipitin test (COPT). Results: COX3 and NAD5 primers showed suitability for the assay as sequencing analyses gave high similarities of 96-98% for S. japonicum, while NAD4 showed no similarity to any organisms. The PCR-assay was shown to have a detection limit of 4 ng/ul DNA and was specific only to S. japonicum. The assay detected seven out of ten S. japonicum-spiked stool samples and ten out of ten S. japonicum-spiked serum samples. Comparative performance testing with Kato-Katz and COPT showed high specificity of 100% for both samples, but low sensitivity for formalin-fixed stool samples and stored serum samples. Conclusion This study developed a sensitive and specific PCR-based assay to detect S. japonicum from human samples. Results suggest that this PCR assay could be useful for the detection of S. japonicum in fresh clinical samples and can be further improved as a reference to improve other diagnostic assays for schistosomiasis.
Schistosoma japonicum ; Schistosomiasis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction