Abstract:
Many reports have shown that malarial parasites can produce distinct morphological and molecular alterations in the membranes of the parasitized erythrocytes (l-8), but few studies have
been carried out on nonparasitized erythrocytes of infected animals (9-11).We report here that the outer leaflet of the membrane bilayer of non parasitized erythrocytes contains significantly larger amounts of aminophospholipids (phosphatidylethanolamine
(PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS), than
the normal red cell membrane. This alteration in nonparasitized red cells is probably caused by Ca2+ -induced crosslinking of spectrin, and gradually disappears after chloroquine treatment.
The external localization of PS in these cells together with defective structure of their cytoskeletal network provide a
strong basis for the complications associated with malaria infection
like thrombosis, infarction and severe anaemia.
