Screening procedure using chicks infected with the sporozoites of Plasmodium gallinaceum in an antimalarial drug development programme.

Of 10 000 compounds tested for tissue schizontocidal activity in a Plasmodium gallinaceum-chick model, 157 were also tested in a definitive mouse test (DMT) and 277 in a rhesus monkey test (RMT). The results in the avian model were 78% and 55% in agreement with those of the DMT and RMT, respectively. This result is not as good as that for a tissue schizontocidal mouse screen previously reported, which showed 93% and 80% agreement with DMT and RMT, respectively. More than three-quarters of the compounds tested in DMT and RMT were 8-aminoquinolines, a chemical class known to have tissue schizontocidal activity.