Studies on the Motility of Plasmodium Sporozoites*

SYNOPSIS Albumin was found to have a striking stimulatory effect on motility of Plasmodium sporozoites, while serum globulins had an inhibitory effect. Albumin also preserved viability of sporozoites in vitro at 4 C for several days. P. berghei, P. cynomolgi , and P. falciparum sporozoites each had a distinct and characteristic type of motility. P. berghei sporozoites from oocysts had a different type of motility from that of salivary gland sporozoites, each type presumably associated with different invasive capacities at different times during the life cycle of the parasite. This change in sporozoite motility during development was also associated with other physiologic developmental changes in the sporozoite. The degree of motility of a given pool of sporozoites was to some degree associated with other parameters of metabolic activity of these sporozoites, i.e. infectivity, immunogenicity, and secretory activity. Secretions of the rhoptry‐microneme complex may play a role in sporozoite motility.