Plasmodium falciparum in continuous culture: a new medium for the in vitro test for sulfadoxine sensitivity.

The sulfadoxine sensitivity of two strains of Plasmodium falciparum from Thailand, FCM2 and FCM5, was assessed using two types of culture medium, Waymouth formula and RPMI 1640. Growth of the parasite was completely inhibited by 0.5 mmol of sulfadoxine per litre of Waymouth formula, whereas parasite growth in RPMI was not affected at this concentration. The apparent difference in drug sensitivity was shown to be caused by competition between 4-aminobenzoic acid and sulfadoxine. This hypothesis was further confirmed by the extent to which [(14)C]-sulfadoxine was incorporated into the infected erythrocytes.