The uptake and incorporation of nucleosides into normal erythrocytes and erythrocytes containingPlasmodium berghei

Abstract

Normal mouse erythrocytes and erythrocytes containingPlasmodium bergheiwere incubated for 1 h in a medium containing either adenosine, guanosine, cytidine or thymidine labelled with14C or3H. The purine nucleosides, adenosine and guanosine, but not the pyrimidine nucleosides, cytidine and thymidine, were incorporated into the nucleic acid of the parasite–host cell complex. The concentration achieved by all four nucleosides in both normal and parasitized cells was at least as high as that in the suspending medium, showing that not only purines but also pyrimidines enter the parasitized erythrocyte.