An in vitro system for the maintenance of the malaria parasite’s liver stage (hypnozoite), which is the stage responsible for relapse of the disease, has been developed with spheroid-cultured primary hepatocytes.¹ The absence of physiologically relevant in vitro liver stage models, and the challenges associated with the need to use primary hepatocytes, have hindered studies into the biology of hypnozoites. In humans, the reactivation of hypnozoites is responsible for malarial relapse weeks to years after the initial infection with Plasmodium vivax and P. ovale. Various strategies have been employed to extend the viability and native functions of primary hepatocytes for use in malaria research and in drug development to search for anti-relapse drugs. While assays with 2-D cell systems have been successfully adapted for high-throughput screening, they lack the native microenvironment that can be achieved with 3-D cell spheroids.

中文翻译：

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新闻与观点。

已经用球体培养的原代肝细胞开发了一种用于维持疟原虫的肝脏阶段（次生动物）的体外系统，该阶段是导致疾病复发的阶段。¹缺乏生理相关的体外肝分期模型，以及与使用原代肝细胞的需求相关的挑战，阻碍了对次裂殖子生物学的研究。在人类中，次生疟原虫的活化是最初感染间日疟原虫和卵形疟原虫后数周至数年的疟疾复发的原因。。已经采用了各种策略来扩展原代肝细胞的活力和天然功能，以用于疟疾研究和药物开发中以寻找抗复发药物。尽管使用2-D细胞系统的测定法已成功地适用于高通量筛选，但它们缺乏可以用3-D细胞球体实现的天然微环境。