Retention and survival of Plasmodium sporozoites in the spleen

A central role of the spleen during the Plasmodium erythrocytic infection has been extensively described and acknowledged. However, whether it also influences the sporozoites in their journey toward the liver it is still unclear. In this paper we report that the intravenously inoculated P. yoelii and P. berghei sporozoites are retained in the spleen. In situ observations of parasite expressing GFP revealed the presence of live sporozoites in the splenic parenchyma for at least three hours after their inoculation. This suggests that the spleen might play an additional role beyond one of simply trapping and destroying sporozoites on their journey from the skin to the liver.