Question

Explain life cycle of plasmodium with diagram.

Answer 1

Life Cycle of Plasmodium:

1. Plasmodium is a digenetic endoparasite because it completes its life cycle in two hosts.
2. Its primary host, where it completes its asexual cycle, is the man.
3. Its vector, or secondary host, is a female Anopheles mosquito, with whom it completes its sexual cycle.
4. Female Anopheles mosquitos have sporozoites in their salivary glands.
5. They get into the human bloodstream and make their way to the liver cells.
6. The sporozoites undergo asexual multiple fission in liver cells, resulting in the formation of new cells known as merozoites.
7. Merozoites were released when liver cells burst open.
8. The erythrocytic phase begins when these merozoites enter RBCs.
9. Merozoites go through two stages: trophozoite and signet ring trophozoite.
10. The trophozoite of the signet ring ingests proteins from the cytoplasm of RBCs.
11. It creates food vacuoles within which digestive enzymes are secreted.
12. Blood haemoglobin was proteolyzed and broken down into protein globin and haematin pigment by these enzymes.
13. The trophozoite digests the globin protein.
14. Trophozoite grows larger and becomes rounded, forming schizont.
15. Schizont undergoes multiple fissions, resulting in a large number of daughter nuclei.
16. Once after rupturing the blood cells, a toxic substance called Haemozoin is released.
17. The gametocyte produced in the human blood gets transferred to the mosquito when it bites an infected person.
18. Macro and micro gametocytes undergo fertilization, transformation and sporogenesis in the mosquitoes intestine and sporozoites are formed.
19. Sporozoites migrate to the salivary gland of mosquitoes and the cycle is repeated.
20. Plasmodium sp needs human and female Anopheles mosquitoes to complete their lifecycle.