Imaging ion flux and ion homeostasis in blood stage malaria parasites

The steady-state regulation of intracellular levels of essential ions and ionic gradients is critical for almost all functions within a cell. Thus, it is not surprising to find that ions have been shown to play an important role in numerous parasitic processes, such as invasion, development and possibly drug resistance mechanisms. Live cell imaging has become a widespread technique to visualize and quantify several of these processes, including pH and Ca(2+) homeostasis, in an effort to better understand the biology and physiology of cells. This is now also the case for many human pathogens. The aim of this review is to emphasize the importance of this technique and provide an overview of what we have learned so far, using the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum as a paradigm.