MEASUREMENT OF pH OF THE DIGESTIVE VACUOLE ISOLATED FROM THE PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM-INFECTED ERYTHROCYTE BY DIGITONIN PERMEABILIZATION
AbstractThe acidic pH of the digestive vacuole (DV) of P. falciparum is thought to play a major role in the mechanisms of digestion of host erythrocyte hemoglobin, detoxification of heme, and chloroquine (CQ) action and resistance. However, a definitive measurement of the DV pH has been technically difficult. A previous study by Abu Bakar (2015) measured the DV pH by using fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC-dextran), a ratiometric pH indicator loaded into the malaria parasite’s DV that had been isolated using saponin (DVsap). To validate the FITC-dextran response to the DVsap pH, pH of the DV isolated by digitonin permeabilization (DVdigi) was measured. The DVdigi pH of the CQ-sensitive parasite (D10) was 5.66 ± 0.07 that is approximately similar to that of the DVsap pH (5.27 ± 0.03) estimated using the same probe. The DVdigi pH of the CQ-resistant parasite (Dd2) (5.62 ± 0.12) was not significantly different from the CQ-sensitive parasite’s DVdigi pH (P> 0.3). Re-acidification of the DVdigi was also observed upon the addition of 2 mM ATP to the ATP-depleted medium. These data validate the use of FITC-dextran for quantitative DV pH analysis of the parasite isolated using either digitonin or saponin.
Article Information
67
2587-2593
735
1032
English
IJPSR
N. Ibrahim and N. Abu-Bakar *
School of Health Sciences, Health Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia.
natashaa@usm.my
13 August 2018
05 December 2018
30 January 2019
10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.10(5).2587-93
01 May 2019