Parasite Infection
Parasite Infection - Related Videos
02:33
A Technique to Develop a Parasite Infection in Intestinal Organoids via Microinjection
0 Views •
2025
This video demonstrates a microinjection technique to develop a human intestinal organoid infection model. The infectious sporozoite stage of the parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is microinjected into the organoid lumen. Upon invading the epithelial cells of the organoid, it undergoes asexual and sexual reproduction to complete its life cycle and spreads the infection.
06:56
An Assay for Quantifying Antibody-Mediated Phagocytosis of Parasite-Infected Erythrocytes
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2025
This video demonstrates a flow cytometry-based phagocytosis assay involving labeled and opsonized Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes by monocytes. Flow cytometry identifies fluorescence in monocytes, confirming the successful identification of opsonized erythrocytes through phagocytosis.
10:12
Experimental Infection of Mice with the Parasitic Nematode Strongyloides ratti
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Cited by 2 •
2025
Strongyloides ratti is a parasitic nematode that causes transient infections in laboratory mice, displaying tissue-migrating and intestinal life stages. Here, we present a protocol for the maintenance of the parasite cycle in rats and experimental infection of mice, including parasite quantification in the head, lung, and intestine.
12:40
Cultivation of Heligmosomoides Polygyrus: An Immunomodulatory Nematode Parasite and its Secreted Products
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Cited by 105 •
2015
Heligmosomoides polygyrus is a murine nematode with powerful immunomodulatory capabilities that closely resemble those of highly-prevalent human helminth infection. Here we describe a protocol for the long-term maintenance of the H. polygyrus lifecycle.
10:09
Selection of Plasmodium falciparum Parasites for Cytoadhesion to Human Brain Endothelial Cells
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Cited by 23 •
2012
An in vitro model for cerebral malaria sequestration is described1. Plasmodium falciparum infected red blood cells are selected for binding to immortalized human brain microvascular endothelial cells. The selected parasites show a distinct phenotype. The selection process can be applied using various P. falciparum strains and endothelial cell lines.
FAQs
Parasites can persist by evading host immune defenses, then use the host environment to maintain themselves or reproduce. Their effects may also include changes to host physiology, meaning normal body functions are altered. These mechanisms help explain why infection can damage health even when the parasite’s immediate resource use is not obvious.
Different hosts can support distinct developmental stages, so transmission may depend on movement through a sequence rather than a single exposure. Recognizing which host carries each stage helps biologists connect parasite development with transmission patterns and identify points where prevention or public-health planning may interrupt spread.
Contaminated food or water, direct contact, and vectors such as mosquitoes create different opportunities for a parasite to reach a host. Comparing these routes links infection biology to environmental conditions and behavior, while also helping researchers explain why prevention strategies must be matched to the way transmission occurs.
Outcome depends on the parasite’s access to host cells, tissues, or nutrients, as well as its ability to reproduce, evade immune defenses, and alter host physiology. These interacting features make host damage a biological relationship rather than a simple presence-or-absence event, which is important when interpreting infection and disease.
Biologists can organize investigation around several connected questions: how the parasite reaches the host, which developmental stage is present, how host tissues or physiology respond, and how the parasite avoids immune defenses. This framework connects observations of transmission, life cycles, and host responses, supporting interpretation of infection within its biological context.
Research on parasite infections connects host-pathogen interactions with practical decisions about accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, prevention, and public-health planning. It also incorporates ecological relationships and disease transmission, allowing biologists to relate an individual host’s condition to broader patterns of spread and to the biological factors that sustain infection.