Use of rabbit serum in the cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum.

Long-term cultivation of four strains of Plasmodium falciparum was achieved in medium with rabbit serum following earlier cultivation of these parasites in medium containing human serum. After a 2- to 3-wk period of adaptation by parasites to their new environment, growth in fresh-frozen rabbit serum was indistinguishable from that observed in human serum. Furthermore, the growth of parasites in medium supplemented with 5% lyophilized serum was similar to that observed when 5 or 10% frozen serum was used. Variability in parasite growth observed with sera obtained from different rabbits could be overcome by the pooling of serum samples. The results suggest that the replacement of human serum by rabbit serum in the cultivation of P. falciparum would be helpful under a number of different circumstances.