Dielectric characterization of Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cells using microfluidic impedance cytometry

Honrado, C., Ciuffreda, L., Spencer, D., Ranford-Cartwright, L. and Morgan, H. (2018) Dielectric characterization of Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cells using microfluidic impedance cytometry. Journal of the Royal Society: Interface, 15(147), 20180416. (doi: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0416) (PMID:30333248) (PMCID:PMC6228484)

Abstract

Although malaria is the world’s most life-threatening parasitic disease, there is no clear understanding of how certain biophysical properties of infected cells change during the malaria infection cycle. In this article, we use microfluidic impedance cytometry to measure the dielectric properties of Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells (i-RBCs) at specific time-points during the infection cycle. Individual parasites were identified within i-RBCs using Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) emission. The dielectric properties of cell sub-populations were determined using the multi-shell model. Analysis showed that the membrane capacitance and cytoplasmic conductivity of i-RBCs increased along the infection time-course, due to membrane alterations caused by parasite infection. The volume ratio occupied by the parasite was estimated to vary from <10% at earlier stages, to ~90% at later stages. This knowledge could be used to develop new label-free cell sorting techniques for sample pre-enrichment, improving diagnosis.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The authors acknowledge the European Commission through the Label-free particle sorting (LAPASO) ITN project from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under REA grant agreement no 607350 ITN for funding.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Ranford-Cartwright, Dr Lisa and Ciuffreda, Laura
• Authors: Honrado, C., Ciuffreda, L., Spencer, D., Ranford-Cartwright, L., and Morgan, H.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
• Journal Name: Journal of the Royal Society: Interface
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• ISSN: 1742-5689
• ISSN (Online): 1742-5662
• Published Online: 17 October 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of the Royal Society: Interface 15(147): 20180416
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License