Cultivation in vitro of the vivax-type malaria parasite Plasmodium cynomolgi.

The vivax-type simian malaria parasite Plasmodium cynomologi was cultured in vitro by both the candle jar method and the continuous flow technique, with rhesus monkey erythrocytes and RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with Hepes buffer and human serum. After 6 weeks in culture, the growth of the parasite had permitted a 5 X 10(6) cumulative dilution of the original inoculum. Cultured parasites remained infective to rhesus monkeys and exhibited a reversible decrease in the ameboid behavior of their trophozoites.