Updated by: Arabinda Naik
After many generations of schizogony in the blood, some of the merozoites invade the new RBC and do not change into schizonts but they grow and transformed into 2 types of gametocytes called macrogametocytes and microgametocytes. Gametocytes appear in the peripheral blood at various intervals after the onset of fever, they remain inactive while in the human blood.
are large (10-12µ) and numerous in number. They have a small compact peripheral nucleus. They have reserved food materials and the cytoplasm is dark in colour.
are smaller (9-10 µ) motile and few. They have large centrally placed nuclei. They lack reserved food and stains faintly hence the cytoplasm is light in colour and clear. Both gametocytes contain a large amount of hemozoin; they enlarge the erythrocytes. The gametocytes do not divide but remain in human blood corpuscles for several weeks. It is necessary for them to be taken into the body of Anopheles for further development, if this does not happen, they will either degenerate or die.