Osmotic and Mechanical Fragilities of Erythrocytes of Monkeys Infected with P. knowlesi Malaria.

Abstract

Experiments with the blood of control and of Macaca mulatta monkeys infected with Plasmodium knowlesi indicate that the parasitized red blood cells develop increased osmotic fragility and in vitro are selectively destroyed by mechanical trauma. Consequently, it is suggested that because of this increased mechanical fragility of the red blood cells the motion of the circulation in vivo plays a part in the production of the hemolytic anemia in malaria of monkeys and, by analogy, of man.