Purine and pyrimidine nucleotide profiles during synchronous malaria infection (Plasmodium knowlesi) in the rhesus monkey

Abstract Webster H. K. , Haut M. J. , Martin L. K. and Hildebrandt P. K. 1982. Purine and pyrimidine nucleotide profiles during synchronous malaria infection ( Plasmodium knowlesi in the rhesus monkey. International Journal for Parasitology 12 : 75–79. Blood levels of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides were determined during synchronous infection by Plasmodium knowlesi in rhesus monkeys. Infected monkeys followed over 2–3 intraerythrocytic cycles showed variations in nucleotide pool levels characteristic of the predominant schizogonic growth stage. These changes in nucleotide levels as described for ‘ring’-stage, trophozoite growth and schizogony indicate a cyclically varying relationship between nucleotide concentrations and a specific stage of parasite development during the blood-phase of malaria infection.