Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Quantification of Intracellular Growth Inside Macrophages is a Fast and Reliable Method for Assessing the Virulence of Leishmania Parasites
Published on: March 16, 2018
Stage-specific adhesion of Leishmania promastigotes to the sandfly midgut
P F Pimenta1, S J Turco, M J McConville
1Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Abstract:
Although leishmaniasis is transmitted to humans almost exclusively by the bite of infected phlebotomine sandflies, little is known about the molecules controlling the survival and development of Leishmania parasites in their insect vectors. Adhesion of Leishmania promastigotes to the midgut epithelial cells of the sandfly was found to be an inherent property of noninfective-stage promastigotes, which was lost during their transformation to metacyclic forms, thus permitting the selective release of infective-stage parasites for subsequent transmission by bite. Midgut attachment and release was found to be controlled by specific developmental modifications in terminally exposed saccharides on lipophosphoglycan, the major surface molecule on Leishmania promastigotes.
Related Concept Videos
Symbiosis
Mechanism of Lamellipodia Formation
Leishmaniasis
Malaria
Giardiasis
Amebiasis

