{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T20:26:58Z","timestamp":1790713618335,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,19]],"date-time":"2023-04-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1681862400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004588","name":"Istituto Pasteur-Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004588","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004271","name":"Sapienza Universit\u00e0 di Roma","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004271","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004008","name":"Istituto Superiore di Sanit\u00e0","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004008","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Recent evidence suggests that the bone marrow (BM) plays a key role in the diffusion of <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> malaria by providing a \u201cniche\u201d for the maturation of the parasite gametocytes, responsible for human-to-mosquito transmission. Suitable humanized <jats:italic>in vivo<\/jats:italic> models to study the mechanisms of the interplay between the parasite and the human BM components are still missing.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We report a novel experimental system based on the infusion of immature <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> gametocytes into immunocompromised mice carrying chimeric ectopic ossicles whose stromal and bone compartments derive from human osteoprogenitor cells.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>We demonstrate that immature gametocytes home within minutes to the ossicles and reach the extravascular regions, where they are retained in contact with different human BM stromal cell types.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our model represents a powerful tool to study BM function and the interplay essential for parasite transmission in <jats:italic>P. falciparum<\/jats:italic> malaria and can be extended to study other infections in which the human BM plays a role.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2023.1161669","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,19]],"date-time":"2023-04-19T05:08:43Z","timestamp":1681880923000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["An in vivo humanized model to study homing and sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum transmission stages in the bone marrow"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Samantha","family":"Donsante","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giulia","family":"Siciliano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mariagrazia","family":"Ciardo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Biagio","family":"Palmisano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valeria","family":"Messina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valeria","family":"de Turris","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giorgia","family":"Farinacci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marta","family":"Serafini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Silvestrini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Corsi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mara","family":"Riminucci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pietro","family":"Alano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"E1214","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1112037108","article-title":"Quantitative assessment of plasmodium falciparum sexual development reveals potent transmission-blocking activity by methylene blue","volume":"108","author":"Adjalley","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. 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