Melatonin and IP3-induced Ca2+ Release from Intracellular Stores in the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum within Infected Red Blood Cells

IP3-dependent Ca2+ signaling controls a myriad of cellular processes in higher eukaryotes and similar signaling pathways are evolutionarily conserved in Plasmodium, the intracellular parasite that causes malaria. We have reported that isolated, permeabilized Plasmodium chabaudi, releases Ca2+ upon addition of exogenous IP3. In the present study, we investigated whether the IP3 signaling pathway operates in intact Plasmodium falciparum, the major disease-causing human malaria parasite. P. falciparum-infected red blood cells (RBCs) in the trophozoite stage were simultaneously loaded with the Ca2+ indicator Fluo-4/AM and caged-IP3. Photolytic release of IP3 elicited a transient Ca2+ increase in the cytosol of the intact parasite within the RBC. The intracellular Ca2+ pools of the parasite were selectively discharged, using thapsigargin to deplete endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ and the antimalarial chloroquine to deplete Ca2+ from acidocalcisomes. These data show that the ER is the major IP3-sensitive Ca2+ store. Previous work has shown that the human host hormone melatonin regulates P. falciparum cell cycle via a Ca2+-dependent pathway. In the present study, we demonstrate that melatonin increases inositol-polyphosphate production in intact intraerythrocytic parasite. Moreover, the Ca2+ responses to melatonin and uncaging of IP3 were mutually exclusive in infected RBCs. Taken together these data provide evidence that melatonin activates PLC to generate IP3 and open ER-localized IP3-sensitive Ca2+ channels in P. falciparum. This receptor signaling pathway is likely to be involved in the regulation and synchronization of parasite cell cycle progression.