The effect of sulphadiazine, proguanil and 2:4-diamino-6:7-diisopropylpteridine upon gametocyte production inPlasmodium gallinaceum(Brumpt, 1935)

Abstract

In strains ofPlasmodium gallinaceumpassaged by blood-inoculation, through young birds treated with small, but effective doses of proguanil, sulphadiazine or 2:4-diamino-6:7-diisopropylpteridine, the numbers of gametocytes produced were much greater than in the parent strain passaged by the same method.The effect of the drugs upon gametocyte production appears to be a long term one, since no change in gametocyte numbers was observed in birds treated with proguanil or sulphadiazine for only a few days.The relationship of these drugs to nuclear division and the synthesis of nucleic acids is discussed in the light of the observed increase in gametocyte-production in drug-treated strains ofP. gallinaceum.