Parasitophorous vacuole

The parasitophorous vacuole (PV) is a structure produced by apicomplexan parasites in the cells of its host.

The PV prevents the acidification of the compartment, the mechanism by which the lysosomes of the host cell would normally destroy an invading parasite.

[1] Parasites that form a parasitophorous vacuole as part of their infection process include Plasmodium falciparum, which causes malaria and Toxoplasma gondii, which causes toxoplasmosis.

The PVM surrounds the intracellular parasite, creating a separate bubble of cytoplasm-filled plasma membrane within the host cell.

The rhoptry and the microneme, special secretory organelles found in apicomplexan parasites, play a major role in the formation of the vacuole.

Toxoplasma gondii in a bar-shouldered dove, lung. Two tachyzoites enclosed in a parasitophorous vacuolar membrane (pvm). Note conoid (co), micronemes (mn), rhoptries (ro) with honey-combed contents, and a nucleus (nu) in each tachyzoite. The parasitophorous vacuole has membranous tubules. Transmission electron microscopy.