Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 3, 2026

Determining Intestinal Permeability Using Lucifer Yellow in an Apical-Out Enteroid Model
09:48

Determining Intestinal Permeability Using Lucifer Yellow in an Apical-Out Enteroid Model

Published on: July 27, 2022

4.1K

The permeability properties of the parasite cell membrane

H Ginsburg1

  • 1Department of Biological Chemistry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

Novartis Foundation Symposium
|January 25, 2000
PubMed

Insights

The malaria parasite

Area of Science:

  • Malariology
  • Parasitology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Asexual malaria parasite development occurs within host erythrocytes, necessitating extensive material exchange.
  • Homeostatic regulation of the parasite's cellular composition is crucial for its rapid development.
  • Understanding nutrient and ion transport is key to targeting malaria parasite survival.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the transport mechanisms across the plasma membrane of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.
  • To identify and characterize various transporters involved in nutrient uptake and waste extrusion.
  • To explore the role of ion gradients and pumps in parasite homeostasis.

Main Methods:

  • Inferred transporter functions based on studies of free murine parasite species.
  • Identified specific transporters for D-glucose, nucleosides, L-amino acids, L-lactate, and pantothenic acid.
  • Demonstrated a Na+/H+ antiporter and characterized an ATP/ADP antiporter.

Main Results:

  • Evidence suggests a plasma membrane H+ pump maintains membrane potential and pH gradients, driving nutrient uptake and ion extrusion.
  • Several transporters, including those for glucose and amino acids, are localized to the parasite plasma membrane.
  • A Na+/H+ antiporter is involved in pH regulation, and cation pumps are inferred from cytosolic composition.

Conclusions:

  • The malaria parasite utilizes a complex array of transporters for nutrient acquisition and waste removal.
  • Ion gradients and pumps play a vital role in maintaining parasite homeostasis within the erythrocyte.
  • Further characterization of cloned cation pump genes is needed to fully understand their functions.

More Related Videos

Preparing Lamellae from Vitreous Biological Samples Using a Dual-Beam Scanning Electron Microscope for Cryo-Electron Tomography07:00

Preparing Lamellae from Vitreous Biological Samples Using a Dual-Beam Scanning Electron Microscope for Cryo-Electron Tomography

Published on: August 5, 2021

4.3K
In Vitro and In Vivo Approaches to Determine Intestinal Epithelial Cell Permeability10:22

In Vitro and In Vivo Approaches to Determine Intestinal Epithelial Cell Permeability

Published on: October 19, 2018

26.9K

Related Concept Videos

What are Membranes?01:54

What are Membranes?

A key characteristic of life is the ability to separate the external environment from the internal space. To do this, cells have evolved semi-permeable membranes that regulate the passage of biological molecules. Additionally, the cell membrane defines a cell’s shape and interactions with the external environment. Eukaryotic cell membranes also serve to compartmentalize the internal space into organelles, including the endomembrane structures of the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum and...
207.9K
Plasma Membrane in Bacteria and Archaea01:27

Plasma Membrane in Bacteria and Archaea

The plasma membrane is an essential cellular structure responsible for maintaining cellular integrity and regulating the selective transport of molecules. While bacteria and archaea share the fundamental function of plasma membranes, their structural and molecular differences reflect adaptations to distinct ecological and physiological challenges.Bacterial Plasma MembranesBacterial plasma membranes are predominantly composed of phospholipids with fatty acid chains ester-linked to a glycerol...
2.4K
What are Membranes?01:24

What are Membranes?

A cell's plasma membrane demarcates the cell's borders and determines the nature of its interaction with the environment. Cells exclude certain substances, take in others, and excrete some others in controlled quantities. The plasma membrane must be flexible to allow certain cells, such as red and white blood cells, to change their shape while passing through narrow capillaries. These are the more obvious plasma membrane functions. In addition, the plasma membrane's surface carries...
19.8K
The Significance of Membrane Transport01:44

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...
43.2K
Physiological Barriers01:25

Physiological Barriers

Physiological barriers are semi-permeable cellular structures restricting drug diffusion into intracellular compartments and tissues. There are six types of physiological barriers: blood endothelial, cell membrane, blood-brain, blood-cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood-placenta, and blood-testis barriers.
The blood endothelial barrier is the most porous of these. It allows all small ionized, un-ionized, and lipophilic molecules to pass through the endothelial lining into the interstitial space...
5.5K
Introduction to Membrane Proteins01:16

Introduction to Membrane Proteins

The cell membrane, or plasma membrane, is an ever-changing landscape. It is described as a fluid mosaic where various macromolecules are embedded in the phospholipid bilayer. Among the macromolecules are proteins. The protein content varies across cell types. For example, mitochondrial inner membranes contain ~76% protein content, while myelin contains ~18% protein content. Individual cells contain many types of membrane proteins—red blood cells contain over 50—and different cell...
82.4K