Exo-erythrocytic development of avian malaria and related haemosporidian parasites

Malaria Journal

Table 5 Main morphological characters of exoerythrocytic meronts of avian haemosporidian parasites

Character	Plasmodium	Haemoproteus	Leucocytozoon	Akiba
Merogony in hepatocytes (Fig. 4a, b)	Absent	Absent	Present	Absent
Merogony in cells of hemopoietic system (Fig. 1h, i)	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent
Thin-walled elongate meronts in brain capillaries (Fig. 1j–l)	Present	Absent	Absent	Absent
Megalomeronts (Fig. 3c–h, Fig. 4c–h, Fig. 5a, b)	Absent	Present	Present	Present
‘Central body’ in megalomeronts (Fig. 4d–h)	Absent	Absent	Present	Absent
Extracellular development of megalomeronts (Fig. 5a, b)	Absent	Absent	Absent	Present
Prominent (more than threefold in comparison to controls) enlargement of host cell nuclei (Fig. 4d, f–h)	Absent	Absent	Present	Absent

Absence of a given character in examined parasite preparations might be due to inappropriate stage of parasite development or other methodology issues, and should be treated with caution in practical work. Presence of a given character in preparations indicates taxonomic status of haemosporidians
During mammalian malaria, exo-erythrocytic development occurs in hepatic cells

ISSN: 1475-2875