Figure 8
From: Anti-plasmodial action of de novo-designed, cationic, lysine-branched, amphipathic, helical peptides
Model of antiplasmodial action of ΔFd. ΔFd causes growth arrest of rings, anomalous egress of trophozoites and premature egress of schizonts. Its IC80 (3.12 μM) and IC50 (1.56 μM) cause arrest of rings and trophozoites respectively and its IC70 (2.5 μM) causes the anomalous egress of trophozoites and premature egress of schizonts. In both cases the parasite fails to proliferate since egressed trophozoites cannot differentiate into schizonts and the premature, undifferentiated egressed schizonts seem to release merozoites that are invasion incompetent. The peptide shows good selectivity against parasitized RBCs since 16X IC80 fails to lyse healthy RBCs.