sporozoite /spôr′əzō″īt/ [Gk, sporos + zoon, animal] , any of the cells resulting from the sexual union of spores during the life cycle of a sporozoon. It refers specifically to the elongated nucleated cells produced by the multiple fission of the zygote contained in the oocyst in the female Anopheles mosquito during the sexual reproductive stage of the life cycle of the malarial parasite Plasmodium. On release from the oocyst, the sporozoites migrate to the salivary glands of the mosquito, where they are transmitted to humans and develop within the parenchymal cells of the liver as merozoites. Also called falciform body. See also malaria, Plasmodium.
