R. Entzeroth et al., STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE PARASITOPHOROUS VACUOLE IN EIMERIA SPECIES, International journal for parasitology, 28(7), 1998, pp. 1015-1018
The intracellular life-cycle stages of Eimeria are located in the host
cell within a membrane-bound parasitophorous vacuole. The invasion pr
ocess and the formation of the parasitophorous vacuole are mediated by
characteristic organelles within the apical complex. During invasion,
the parasitophorous-vacuole membrane is manipulated by the parasite a
nd functions later in the development cycle as a molecular sieve, allo
wing the exchange of metabolites between parasite and host cell. Unlik
e the cyst-forming coccidia, there is little evidence of parasitophoro
us-vacuole membrane transformation in the later stages of the lifecycl
e of Eimeria species. Compared with the human pathogens Plasmodium and
Toxoplasma, rather little is known about the parasitophorous vacuole
and parasitophorous-vacuole membrane of animal pathogens of the genus
Eimeria. (C) 1998 Australian Society for Parasitology. Published by El
sevier Science Ltd.