A role for linoleic acid in erythrocytes infected with Plasmodium berghei

Unesterified fatty acids were measured in mouse erythrocytes infected either with chloroquine-susceptible (CS) or with chloroquine-resistant (CR) lines of Plasmodium berghei. This work was undertaken to identify candidates for the lipid involved in ferriprotoporphyrin IX (FP) polymerization. Linoleic, oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids were quantified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. In total, they increased 4-fold with CS infections and 6-fold with CR infections. Treating infected mice with chloroquine did not affect the amounts of unesterified fatty acids in erythrocytes. Of the four fatty acids, only linoleic acid increased disproportionately to the total. It increased 16-fold for the CS line and 35-fold for the CR line. The method could detect monoglycerides but they were below the limit of detection. It could not detect diglycerides, triglycerides or phospholipids. Triglycerides and phospholipids have been tested previously, however, and found to be ineffective at promoting FP polymerization. Therefore, other than linoleic acid, the lipids most likely to be involved in FP polymerization are diglycerides. We tested dilinoleolyglycerol in the present work and found it to be an effective promoter of FP polymerization. These results suggest that linoleic acid or a diglyceride containing it has the critical role of promoting FP polymerization in malaria parasites.