Mosquitoes and parasites. V:B, Sporozoite invasion assay

The techniques used for assessing Plasmodium berghei and P. falciparum sporozoite invasion are identical, although the latter parasite obviously poses a substantial risk to any individual exposed to it, so due care should be taken in handling infectious mosquitoes and viable sporozoites. Sporozoites are layered over hepatoma (HepG2-A16) cells or primary human hepatocytes and recognized by monoclonal antibody or serum raised to circumsporozoite (CS) protein, which bind the cell surface of sporozoites and block sporozoite invasion into hepatoma cells in vitro.