Plasmodium asexual blood stage

The Plasmodium asexual blood stages encompass the developmental forms of the malaria parasite that replicate within human red blood cells (erythrocytes), and are responsible for symptomatic malaria. These stages include the ring, trophozoite, and schizont phases. The parasite invades red cells, digests hemoglobin, remodels the host cell (including its cytoskeleton and membrane), and ultimately produces segmented schizonts that release daughter merozoites, which can reinvade new red blood cells. All clinical manifestations of malaria are linked to the asexual blood stages, which are the target of most drugs and are central to malaria pathology and transmission

Other names

intraerythrocytic asexual stagesasexual intraerythrocytic stagesblood-stage parasites

Inhibition of heme detoxification (e.g., chloroquine) Generation of reactive oxygen species (e.g., artemisinin) Inhibition of folate synthesis (e.g., pyrimethamine, sulfadoxine) Disruption of electron transport (e.g., atovaquone) Inhibition of protein synthesis (various mechanisms)