Results

We applied our model to data obtained from the first 5 minutes of DeltaHX strain parasites invading human foreskin fibroblasts.

As mentioned before we start with the assumption that at time = 0 100% of parasites are in the "Contact" state.

The optimal solution resulted in the following rate:

k1 = 0.86 min-1 This can be interpreted as an average time of 1.16 min for "Contact" parasites to attach.

k2 = 0.28 min-1 On average parasites that fail to invade spend 3.55 min attached.

k3 = 0.35 min-1 On average parasites remain attached for 2.87 min before they initiate penetration.

k4 = 3.42 min-1 The average is time to traverse the host cell plasma membrane is 17 seconds. This is very close to observations made of individiual Delta_HX parasites invading HFF cells.

The plot below displays resulting kinetics based on this solution.

Invasion Kinetics of Delta_HX parasites entering HFF cells.