Electron microscopy of Plasmodium vivax exoerythrocytic schizonts grown in vitro in a hepatoma cell line.

Human hepatoma cells (HepG2-A16) have been shown to be useful for the growth of the exoerythrocytic stages of P. vivax. In order to determine whether the parasites grown in these cells are morphologically similar to those grown in vivo, we performed electron microscopy on the exoerythrocytic (EE) schizonts of P. vivax developed from sporozoites. This study showed for the first time that P. vivax EE schizonts within these cells closely resemble other plasmodial EE schizonts both in vivo and in vitro.