Inhibition of Toxoplasma gondii growth by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate is cell cycle specific and leads to population synchronization.

Successful completion of the Toxoplasma cell cycle requires the coordination of a series of complex and ordered processes that results in the formation of two daughters by internal budding. Although we now understand the order and timing of intracellular events associated with the parasite cell cycle, the molecular details of the checkpoints that regulate each step in Toxoplasma gondii division is still uncertain. In other eukaryotic cells, the use of cytostatic inhibitors that are able to arrest replication at natural checkpoints have been exploited to induce synchronization of population growth.