Malaria Pigment Crystals: The Achilles' Heel of the Malaria Parasite.

The biogenic formation of hemozoin crystals, a crucial process in heme detoxification by the malaria parasite, is reviewed as an antimalarial drug target. We first focus on the in-vivo formation of hemozoin. A model is presented, based on native-contrast 3D imaging obtained by X-ray and electron microscopy, that hemozoin nucleates at the inner membrane leaflet of the parasitic digestive vacuole, and grows in the adjacent aqueous medium.

The mechanism of silver staining of proteins separated by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Gel based silver staining of proteins is thought to occur by selective reduction of silver ions to insoluble metallic silver at specific initiation sites in the vicinity of the protein molecules. Silver stained protein bands generally are dark brown or black with considerable variation in color intensity. The color variation has been attributed to diffractive scattering by silver grains of different sizes.

Bad air, amulets and mosquitoes: 2,000 years of changing perspectives on malaria.

For many centuries, scientists have debated the cause and best treatment of the disease now known as malaria. Two theories regarding malaria transmission--that of "bad air" and that of insect vectors--have been widely accepted at different times throughout history. Treatments and cures have varied accordingly over time.

From methylene blue to chloroquine: a brief review of the development of an antimalarial therapy.

Malarial treatment is widely and readily available today. However, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when malaria was a deadly disease with no known cause or cure. In this article, we trace the origins of an antimalarial therapy from the discovery of the nature of the malarial parasite through the development of chloroquine.

In search of the malarial parasite: biographical sketches of the blood stain contributors.

Methylene blue was synthesized by Caro in 1876 at BASF, a chemical company. Six years later, Koch employed methylene blue when he discovered the tubercle bacillus. In 1880, Ehrlich described what he termed "neutral" dyes: mixtures of acidic and basic dyes for the differentiation of cells in peripheral blood smears.