Evidence for the involvement of Plasmodium falciparum proteins in the formation of new permeability pathways in the erythrocyte membrane

The intraerythrocytic developmental stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum are responsible for the clinical symptoms associated with malaria tropica. The non-infected human erythrocyte is a terminally differentiated cell that is unable to synthesize proteins and lipids de novo, and it is incapable of importing a number of solutes that are essential for parasite proliferation. Approximately 12-15 h after invasion the parasitized cell undergoes a marked increase in its permeability to a variety of different solutes present in the extracellular milieu. The increase is due to the induction in the erythrocyte membrane of 'new permeability pathways' which have been characterized in some detail in terms of their transport and electrophysiological properties, but which are yet to be defined at a molecular level. Here we show that these pathways are resistant to trypsin but are abolished by treatment of intact infected erythrocytes with chymotrypsin. On resuspension of chymotrypsinized cells in chymotrypsin-free medium the pathways progressively reappear, a process that can be inhibited by cytotoxic agents, and by brefeldin A which inhibits protein secretion. Our results provide evidence for the involvement of parasite encoded proteins in the generation of the pathways, either as components of the pathways themselves or as auxiliary factors.