Human malaria in C57BL/6J mice: an in vivo model for chemotherapy studies

The present work deals with the development of Plasmodium falciparum stages in mouse model and its potential for the study of efficacy of antimalarial drugs. C57BL/6J mice were infected with multidrug resistant P. falciparum strain then treated with arteether and artesunate. A response was observed to antimalarial drugs in terms of decrease in parasitemia. Mice infected with P. falciparum strain were successfully cured after treatment with either arteether or artesunate. The speed of parasite clearance time and burden of parasitemia differed for each drug and matched the previously reported observations, hence stressing the relevance of the model. These findings thus suggest that P. falciparum infected human RBC (iRBC) - C57BL/6J mice can provide a valuable in vivo system and should be included in the short list of animals that can be used for the evaluation of P. falciparum responses to drugs.