Ahmed et al. also failed to detect muramidase activity in midgut extracts following blood feeding. By contrast we detected lysozyme c-1 in mosquito hemolymph through Western blotting and Ahmed et al. determined that muramidase activity in the hemolymph increased following blood feeding. Castillo et al. also described the occurrence of lysozyme c-1 in hemocytes. These observations suggest that lysozyme c-1 associated with PF-06291874 parasites is derived from the hemolymph. In studies of the transport of molecules from the hemolymph across the basal lamina to the intercellular spaces of the midgut epithelium, other researchers have shown that cytochrome-c can make this passage. Cytochrome-c is nearly identical to lysozyme c-1 in both size and charge. Thus, it is entirely possible that lysozyme c-1 can also move in this direction. Recent work has described the impact of Quinidine sulfate salt dihydrate microbial communities inhabiting the mosquito midgut on Plasmodium development. We considered the possibility that the antibiotic properties of lysozyme c-1 might alter the microbial community of the gut and thereby contribute to the proliferation and protection of P. berghei parasites in An. gambiae. However, we did not find a significant change in the numbers of culturable bacteria in control mosquitoes when compared with mosquitoes depleted of LYSC-1. This result was not surprising since our previous work demonstrated that purified lysozyme c-1 had little effect on bacteria isolated from midguts. This evidence plus the absence of detectable lysozyme c-1 protein or muramidase activity in the midguts support the hypothesis that the direct association of hemolymph-derived lysozyme c-1 and the oocyst is key to the agonistic interaction. Future studies will investigate the interaction of malaria parasites and lysozyme c-1 in the light of these findings. The luminal contents were removed in PBS. Morphology of the parasites was examined under the fluorescent microscope. There is a distinguishable morphological difference between these ookinete and ooycyst stages of the parasite. Whereas the ookinetes are elongated or retort in shape, the oocysts are oval/round.