Infection of Aedes aegypti with zygotes of Plasmodium gallinaceum fertilized in vitro.

Female gametes of Plasmodium gallinaceum fertilized in vitro, cleaned of all other blood constituents, resuspended in blood, and fed to Aedes aegypti through a membrane were infective. At the lowest zygote concentration, 10(4)/ml, nearly every ingested parasite produced an oocyst. As the concentration ingested increased, efficiency to infect diminished, until above 10(7) zygotes/ml the number of oocysts produced became constant. This method should be valuable for determining the nutrient requirements of the ookinete and early oocyst and for studying the effect of immune sera on these stages in vivo.