Intramuscular Immunization of Mice with Irradiated Plasmodium Berghei Sporozoites

These studies have confirmed a previous report which demonstrated that intramuscularly injected irradiated sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei are far less effective than those injected intravenously in protectively immunizing mice against sporozoite-induced malaria. Because albumin has been shown to induce motility in Plasmodium sporozoites, attempts were made to determine whether the use of albumin in immunizing inocula given intramuscularly might enhance the protection thus obtained. The results showed that albumin did indeed significantly enhance the development of protective immunity, though this protection was still considerably less than that obtained by intravenous immunization. This effect of albumin may be due to its ability to induce motility in the injected sporozoites, thereby permitting them to reach and enter blood vessels more readily.