Q.In reference to antimalarial drug what is difference b/w Gametocidal and Gametocytocidal ??
In Plasmodium, a gametocyte is not the same as a gamete, so the two terms are not strictly equivalent: some drugs could kill gametocytes but not gametes, or vice versa. The gametocyte is the sexually-committed form that circulates in the human blood; it matures into a male or female gamete only within the mosquito gut, after being taken up in a blood meal. For an animated explanation of this, see or this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoIO-g1hiSo, or this one from Rhoel Dinglasan and colleagues: https://gametocytogenesis.wordpress.com/
Semantics are important, and it is worrying that several answers missed the point so nicely explained by Catherine. One needs to be precise in describing the malaria stages, and she has shown why!
I am in the opinion with Catherine. A sexual stage in human blood circulation is called gametocyte and then, when a mosquito bites this carrier, it becomes gamete in the mosquito's midgut.
As some of the answers reflect, a gametocyte and a gamete are not the same parasite stage.
I do not feel that we have to go deep differentiating gametocyte and a gamete
If there is a difference between gametocyte and gamete, does exist a gametocytocidal drug that is not gametocidal or vice versa?
With reference to Pedro's question: For all practical purposes, plasmodial gametes do not occur in humans (although e.g. exflagellation might sometimes give rise to microgametes in the human host as a curiosity). Therefore, drugs given to humans are either gametocytocidal (like primaquine) or not. Whether or not an antimalarial drug is gametocidal is not of any interest, because mosquitoes do not get treated for malaria.
In its strict sense the effect of the drug should be gametocytocidal, however, practically the two terms i.e Gametocytocidal and Gametocidal have been used interchangeably to imply the same thing.
The two terms mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably. Gametocytocidal is specifying the point of attack of the drug on the gametocyte.
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