Piperaquine Survival Assays (PSA) to evaluate the in-vitro and ex-vivo susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum to piperaquine

This procedure describes two assays to evaluate the susceptibility of Plasmodium falciparum to piperaquine. The in-vitro Piperaquine Survival Assay (PSA) is performed on 0-3 hour post-invasion rings obtained from culture-adapted parasites. The ex-vivo Piperaquine Survival Assay (ex-vivo PSA) is performed on parasite isolates freshly collected from patients with malaria. In both assays, parasites are exposed to 200 nM piperaquine (PPQ) for 48 hours – approximating their drug exposure in patients treated with piperaquine based ACT – and their survival is assessed 72 hours later as described in Duru et al. 2015