TABLE 1.

Summary of susceptibility testing assays of medically important human parasites

Parasite	Parasite stages	Type(s) of assaya	Measure(s)	Reference(s)
Plasmodium	Liver stages (sporozoites, schizonts, hypnozoites)	High-content imaging	P. berghei/P. yoelii liver schizont development	161
		Bioluminescence imaging	P. berghei/P. yoelii liver schizont development	27, 162
		Immunofluorescence	Development of P. chabaudi liver small (hypnozoites) and large (schizonts) forms	33
		Immunofluorescence	P. falciparum/P. vivax sporozoite invasion and development	28, 29
	Asexual blood stages (rings, trophozoites, schizonts)	Microscopic	P. falciparum/P. vivax schizont maturation	163
			P. falciparum ring-stage survival	164
		Isotopic	P. falciparum intraerythrocytic growth	4
			P. falciparum intraerythrocytic growth	5
		Colorimetric	P. falciparum intraerythrocytic growth	7
		ELISA	P. falciparum intraerythrocytic growth	6
		Fluorescent DNA dye based	P. falciparum intraerythrocytic growth	9, 165, 166
	Transmission stages (gametocytes, gametes, zygotes, ookinetes, oocysts, sporozoites)	ATP bioluminescence	P. falciparum gametocyte viability	167
		Flow cytometry	P. falciparum gametocyte viability	168
		Microscopic-immunofluorescence	P. falciparum male (exflagellation) and female (fluorescence, shape, size) gamete formation	23
		Microscopic	P. falciparum presence/no. of oocysts	169
Leishmania	Amastigotes, promastigotes	Macrophage infection model	Increase in no. of amastigotes	40, 41
		Colorimetric	Promastigote viability	39
		Flow cytometry	No. of parasites	42
Trypanosoma cruzi	Epimastigotes, trypomastigotes, amastigotes	Murine models of Chagas disease	Parasite burden measured using PCR, immunofluorescence, bioluminescence	43, 44, 46, 47, 56
Trypanosoma brucei	Trypomastigotes, epimastigotes	PCR-RFLP with SfaNI	Detection of mutated parasite transporter and drug-resistant parasites	69
Giardia lamblia	Trophozoites, cysts	Parasite culture	No. of parasites	78
		Colorimetric	Color change due to parasite growth	76
		Imaging	Parasite viability	78
		Bioluminescence	Luminescence signal	80
Entamoeba histolytica	Trophozoites, cysts	Bioluminescence	ATP-dependent luciferase bioluminescence signal	86
Cryptosporidium	Oocysts, gametocytes	Microscopy, qRT-PCR	Parasite invasion and growth	100, 102–105
Schistosoma	Eggs, miracidiae, cercariae, schistosomulae, adult worms	Real-time parasite mobility	Worm viability and motility	100, 101
		Isothermal microcalorimetry	Motility	102
		Image-based high-content screening	Enzymatic and metabolic activity	103
		Fluorescence	Viability and cytotoxicity	104, 105
		Luminescence	Viability	106
Filaria	Microfilariae, L3 larvae, adult worms	Microscopy	Motility	132–135
		Colorimetry	Viability	154, 155
		Worm fecundity	Microfilaria release	134, 138
		Embryogenesis	No. of embryos and stage	134, 153, 157
		Trypan blue exclusion	Viability	151, 152
		Third larval stage (L3) to fourth (L4)	Molting	137, 141
		Histology and electron microscopy	Anatomical changes	142, 143
		WormAssay (software)	Motility scoring	156

^aqRT-PCR, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; PCR-RFLP, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism.