Subject: Protozoa:- Plasmodium Vivax ( the malarial parasite)
Systematic position:-
- Kingdom:- Protists (Acellular eukaryote)
- Phylum:- Protozoa (Heterotrophic and undergoes fission)
- Super-Class:- Sporozoa (No organelles of locomotion)
- Class- Coccidia (Mature trophozoite is intracellular)
- Genus- Plasmodium (True malarial parasite)
- Species- vivax ( causes benign tertian malaria as erythrocytic schizogony is completed in 48 hours)
Introduction:-
- Malaria is a widely known human disease. It is caused by infection with a pathogenic Protozoan parasite of blood, the plasmodium, whose 60 known species cause malaria in man and other animals.
- Four species of Plasmodium are known to cause different types of malaria fever in man.
- They are P. vivax , P. malariae and P. falciparum. Female Anopheles mosquitoes transmit Plasmodium from person to person , thus serving as carrier or vector host.
- It derives certain proteins from human blood and are important in its egg formation.
- Male feeds upon plant juices.
- P. vivax is mostly widely studied of Plasmodium.
- Hence, the following description is mainly based upon it.
Distribution:-
- Plasmodium vivax is cosmopolitan parasite.
- It is wide spread in tropical and temperate countries.
- Some species infect migratory birds.
Habitat:-
- Plasmodium is endoparasite, found in the blood of man:-
- Intracellular in R.B.Cs and parenchymal cells of liver.
- Also found in the alimentary canal and salivary glands of female Anopheles Mosquitoes.
Habits:-
- Being intracellular parasite, it depends for all vital activities on host.
Life cycle:-
- Life cycle of Plasmodium is complicated.
- It comprises several stages and requires two hosts for completion- a primary, definitive or principal host and a secondary, intermediate or vector host
- Such a two host life cycle is called digenetic.
- In human species of Plasmodium, intermediate host is always female Anopheles.
- In human body, the parasite multiplies asexually, while is female Anopheles, it undergoes a sexual cycle followed by an Asexual multiplication called sporogony.
Asexual cycle and schizogony in man:-
- The adult phase of Plasmodium is called trophozoite.
- It occurs in R.B.Cs of man but before invading the R.B.Cs the paradises invade liver cells and undergoes extensive asexual multiplication by Schizogony. The life cycle of Plasmodium in man consists of two phases:-
(1) Exoerythrocytic or hepatic Schizogony
(2) Erythrocytic schizogony
Exoerythrocytic Schizogony:-
(a) Inoculation or Infection:-
- A healthy person acquires infection when a female Anopheles Mosquito, containing infective stage of parasite in their salivary glands.
- They feed upon human blood which they such, usually during night, by means of their piercing and sucking mouth parts.
- The mosquito punctures the host's skin by its proboscis and first introduces some saliva into the wound.
- Saliva contains an anticoagulant which prevents clotting of blood during sucking.
- This saliva carries thousands of sporozoites into the human blood.
(b) Structure of Sporozoites:-
- A sporozoite has a spindle shaped, slightly curved or sickle shaped body tapering at either end .
- It is uninucleate organism, measuring 6 micro to 15 micro in length and 0.5-1 micro in width
- Each has a covering of firm, but elastic pellicle, containing longitudinal contractile microtubules for its wriggling movements.
- It's Anterior end is marked by a minute aperture, the micropyle, followed an apical cap of connective rings.
- A pair of long and slender secretory organelles open into the cap
- These is a single vesicular nucleus with a centrally located nucleolus and a mitochondrion with tubular cristae, scattered endoplasmic reticulum is also present.
(C) liver Schizogony:-
- Within half an hour or so after inoculation into human blood, all Sporozoites disappear from the blood.
- As they reach into the liver with blood circulation, they make their way out from Blood capillaries and enter into the liver cells.
- Here they multiply asexually by Schizogony.
- Liver Schizogony has two phases:- pre- erythrocytic and exo- erythrocytic.
(1) Pre- erythrocytic phase:-
- In the liver cells, the parasite become spherical and are known as the cryptoschizoites.
- In the liver cell, the cryptozoite feeds on cytoplasm and grows into a rounded structure, the pre-erythrocytic schizont also known as cryptoschizont.
- The later divides into about 1000 minutes cryptomerozoites by a special type of fission called schizogony ( multiple fission).
- This Schizogony is called exo- erythrocytic, because it occurs away from blood R.B.Cs.
- The schizont and the liver cell break up and liberate cryptomerozoites into the liver sinusoids.
- From the sinusoids, some of these cryptomerozoites invade fresh liver cells to continue Exoerythrocytic Schizogony, while other remain in blood stream and invade R.B.Cs to initiate the erythrocytic cycle.
(iii) Exo-erythrocytic phase:-
- Cryptomerozoites enter fresh liver cells to become metacryptozoites or phanerozoites.
- The later are of two types- micrometscyptozoites and macrometacryptozoites.
- Each micro-metacryptozoite undergoes Schizogony, producing 100 to 10000 minute micro-metacryptozoite which pass into blood stream and invade R.B.Cs for fresh erythrocytic phase.
- Schizogony in each macrometacryptozoites, on the other hand, produces only about 64, relatively large macrometacryptomerozoites which invade fresh liver cells to continue Exo-erythrocytic cycle.
- Pre and exo-erythrocytic phases of parasite remain immune to the resistance of host and parasitea are not susceptible to the action of any anti-malarial drug.
- Also little damage to the host is done during these stages
(iii) Pre-patent and incubation periods:-
- The pre- erythrocytic phase is completed in about 8 to 10 days .
- This inverval between inoculation and initiation of erythrocytic phase is called Pre-patent period.
- The period between infection and appearance of first malarial symptom is the incubation period which is about 10-17 days.
2.Erythrocytic Schizogony:-
- This cycle occurs in R.B.Cs and begins when a cryptomerozoites or micro-metacryptomerozoite enters into an R.B.Cs .
It includes the following stages:-
(i) Trophozoite stage:-
- Inside the corpuscle, the parasite become rounded and grow.
- During the growth period it is called trophozoite.
(ii) Signet ring stage:-
- As the trophozoite grows in size, a large non-contractile vacuole appeara in the centre, pushing the cytoplasm and nucleus to a thin peripheral layer.
- This stage is clinically referred to as signet ring stage as it resembles the signet ring.
(iii) Amoeboid stage:-
- The signet ring trophozoite developes into an active amoeboid trophozoite.
- Now, the trophocytes starts feeding more actively upon cytoplasm of host R.B.Cs with the help of pseudopodia.
- It secretes out digestive enzymes which liquify, the cytoplasm of R.B.Cs by its partial digestion.
- The haemoglobin is not digested
- It gets decomposed into a brownish black pigmentz the haematin, which lies in the cytoplasm of trophozoite.
- In about 36 hours, the young trophozoite grows into an adult, occupying almost the entire R.B.Cs.
- Besides plasmolemma, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, food vacuole, Golgi complex, nucleus etc, a concentric structure of unknown significance has been recently observed in this trophozoite by electron microscopy by Garnham, 1966 and Zinska , 1969.
- The host R.B.Cs gets somewhat enlarged and irregular in shape.
- At this time, small red eosinophilic granules appear in the cytoplasm of the host corpuscle which are known as Schuffner's granules.
(iv) Schizont :-
- The amoeboid trophozoite, after active feeding becomes rounded, grows in size and becomes Schizont.
- It now undergoes Schizogony.
- It's nucleus undergoes repeated mitotic divisions, forming. 12-24 daughter nuclei, which get arranged at the periphery and cytoplasm masses surrounding them.
- Each cytoplasmic mass with one nucleus becomes an oval shaped merozoite.
- They are shorter and thicker than the Sporozoite.
- A part of the cytoplasm of the Schizont is not used in the formation of merozoite.
- This residual cytoplasm contains the haematin and metabolic wastes or toxins produced by the parasites.
- The merozoite arranged themselves around the residual cytoplasm like the petals of rose flower.
- This stage is called rosette stage.
- One complete erythrocytic cycle takes 48 hours in P. vivax.
- The residual cytoplasm and haematin are eaten up by special cells, the phagocytes in the spleen, kidney and liver.
- The interval between inoculation of Sporozoites into human blood and first attack of the fever is called incubation period.
- Repeated erythrocytic cycles results, not only in intermittent attack of fever, but also in a large scale destruction of R.B.Cs, weakening the patient to a considerable extent.
- In P.vivax, the erythrocytic Schizogony takes 48 hours and therefore the fever recurs rhythmically every third day.
- Destruction of R.B.Cs in erythrocytic Schizogony releases toxins and makes the patient feel chilly.
(v) Formation of gametocytes:-
- After a number of erythrocytic cycles, some merozoite, invading fresh R.B.Cs, grow not into normal schizont, but into a different kind of rounded form called gametocytes or gamonts.
- These show sexual dimorphism, being of two types.
- The male or microgametocyte is smaller and contains a large diffused nucleus.
- The gametocytes donot divide, but remain as intracellular parasitrs within their host's blood corpuscles, until they either die or are ingested by the vector, in which they continue their Development.
(2) Sexual cycle of Plasmodium in mosquito :-
(i) Infection of mosquito:-
- When a female Anopheles Mosquito sucks blood of the infected person, it receives R.B.Cs containing different stages of erythrocytic cycle, including gametocytes.
- In its gut, all stages except the gametocytes are digested
- Gametocytes however survive.
- They break the corpuscle and become free in the stomach of mosquito.
- Their becoming active depends upon temperature.
- While the trophozoite and merozoites are active at high temperature (98.6°F) of the human body, the gametocytes need low temperature for further change and therefore, become active only in cold blooded mosquito host.
- The Development of the gametocytes in the mosquito's stomach involves two imo events.
(1) Sexual cycle and
(2) Sporogony
Sexual cycle:-
(a) Gametogony or Gametogenesis:-
- Gametogony or Gametogenesis means the Development of gametes.
- Male and female gametes are dissimilar.
- Such gametes are called heterogametes.
Formation of male gametes:-
- The male or microgametocyte undergoes Spermatogenesis.
- The nucleus of each rapidly divides by meiosis, into 6 to 8 haploid nuclei.
- The later migrate to the periphery.
- The cytoplasm gathers around these nuclei.
- Suddenly each cytoplasmic mass, together with nucleus shoots out from the surface of the microgametocyte in the form of a 20 micro to 25 micro long, whip-like microgametes or sperms.
- This process is called as exflagellation.
- Soon they become free from the residual cytoplasm and start creeping by lashing movements.
Formation of female gametes:-
- A macrogametocyte forms a single female gamete or macrogamete or ovum.
- It's nucleus casts off one or two small pieces, which leave the Gametocyte with a bit or cytoplasm.
- This converts the macrogametocyte into a microgamete.
(b) Fertilization:-
- The megagamete developes a small cytoplasmic projection, the come of reception, on one side.
- The nucleus moves into this cone.
- One male gamete penetrates the female gametes through this cone.
- The nuclei and cytoplasm of the gametes fuse to produce a diploid zygotic nucleus or synkaryon.
- Syngamy is heterogamy or anisogamy as the uniting male and female gametes are dissimilar.
- Zygotes are formed in the stomach of mosquito about 9 or 10 days after the blood meal.
(iii) Ookinete:-
- The zygote, when formed is rounded and motionless.
- After remaining inactive for sometime, each zygote starts elongating and undergoes certain changes so that, in about 9to 10 hours, it becomes 15 micro to 20 micro long and 3 micro thick, worm-like motile organism called vermicular or Ookinete.
- The later has dense cytoplasm, a single pseudopodium -like blunt extension, one irregular nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, microtubules and 2 or more, non-contractile vacuoles.
- The Ookinete pierces through the wall of stomach and comes to rest just beneath it's outermost layer.
- Here , it reassumed sphere shape and soon becomes enclosed inside a cyst, about 8 micro to 10 micro in diameter.
- The cyst-wall is derived partly from zygote and partly by tissues of stomach wall.
- Encysted zygote is called oocyst or sporont.
- Just one or two days after fertilization, 50 or more oocysts appear upon the surface of the stomach of the infected mosquito.
(3) Sporogony:-
- Each oocyte undergoes asexual multiplication known as Sporogony.
- It's nucleus divides repeatedly by mitosis, forming about 10000 minute daughter nuclei within 2-3 days.
- At the same time ,the cytoplasm developes large vacuoles and takes up a sponge- like structure, in which numerous irregular cytoplasmic developes large vacuoles and takes up a sponge -like structure, in which numerous irregular cytoplasmic mass are formed connected by protoplamic strands.
- Each cytoplasmic mass becomes elongated and spindle shaped.
- Together with its nucleus, it now projects into the adjacent vacuole.
- These spindle shaped bodies are called sporozoites.
- Each sporozoite has tapering ends and a broad middle part containing a single nucleus.
- By their pressure, the oocyst ruptures.
- Floating freely in haemocoel or body cavity, these reach the salivary glands of the host and become lodged in its common salivary duct in large numbers.
- In mosquito, whole sexual cycle is completed with 10-20 days depending upon temperature.
- Geographical distribution:- Tropical and sub-tropical regions
- Prepatent period:- 8 days
- Duration of erythrocytic cycle :- 48 days
- No. Of metacryptozoites formed per Schizont:- 10000
- Incubation period :-14 days
- Signet ring form in R.B.Cs:- large ring with vacuole and usually one chromatin dot.
- Haematin:- Dark brown granules and rodless
- Schizont:- Larger than normal erythrocyte.
- Gametocyte in R.B.Cs:- Rounded to oval
- Microgametes formed:- 4 to 8
- Duration of mosquito cycle:- 10 days
- Type of malaria:- Benign tertian, death rate low.
Some characters of P.malariae:-
- Geographical distribution:- Tropical and sub-tropical regions
- Prepatent period:- 7-12 days
- Duration of erythrocytic cycle:- 72 hours
- No. Of metacryptozoites formed per Schizont :- 2000
- Incubation period:- 18-24 days
- Signet ring form in R.B.Cs:- Usually one ring and one chromatin dot.
- Haematin:- Dark brown to black as coarse granules
- Schizont:- Slightly smaller than normal erythrocyte.
- Gametocyte in R.B.Cs:- Oval or circular
- Microgametes formed:- 2 to 5
- Duration of mosquito cycle:- 25-28 days
- Type of malaria:- Quartan, severe.
Some characters of P.ovale:-
- Geographical distribution:- West Africa and South America
- Prepatent period:- 9 days
- Duration of erythrocytic cycle:- 48 hours
- No. Of metacryptozoites formed per Schizont:- 15000
- Incubation period:- 14 days
- Signet ring form in R.B.Cs:- Usually one ring and one dot
- Haematin:- Dark brown less aboundant coarse granules
- Schizont:- Much smaller than a normal erythrocyte.
- Gametocyte in R.B.Cs:- Rounded or oval
- Duration of mosquito cycle:- 16 days
- Type of malaria:- Ovale or mild tertian severe
Some characters of P. falciparum:-
- Geographical distribution:- Tropical, sub-tropical and warmer temperate regions.
- Prepatent period:- 5-6 days
- Duration of erythrocytic cycle:- 36-48 hours
- No. Of metacryptozoites formed per Schizont:- 40000
- Incubation period:- 12 days
- Signet ring form in R.B.Cs:- Small ring situated at edge of R.B.Cs. sometimes 2 chromatin dots.
- Haematin:- Dark brown coarse granules in a compact mass.
- Schizont:- Smaller than a normal erythrocyte.
- Gametocyte in R.B.Cs:-Sausage or crescent shaped
- Microgametes formed:- 4 to 8
- Duration of mosquito cycle:- 10-20 days
- Type of malaria:-Malignant tertian, death rate high