During its intraerythrocytic asexual reproduction cycle Plasmodium falciparum consumes up to 80% of the host cell hemoglobin. The digestion of hemoglobin releases monomeric α-hematin (ferriprotoporphyrin IX). This compound is toxic, since it is a pro-oxidant and catalyzes the production of reactive oxygen species. Oxidative stress is believed to be generated during the conversion of heme (ferroprotoporphyrin) to hematin (ferriprotoporphyrin). Free hematin can also bind to and disrupt cell membranes, damaging cell structures and causing the lysis of the host erythrocyte. The unique reactivity of this molecule has been demonstrated in several in vitro and in vivo experimental conditions.
The malaria parasite, therefore, detoxifies the hematin, which it does by biocrystallization—converting it into insoluble and chemically inert β-hematin crystals (called hemozoin). In Plasmodium the food vacuole fills with hemozoin crystals, which are about 100–200 nanometres long and each contain about 80,000 heme molecules. Detoxification through biocrystallization is distinct from the detoxification process in mammals, where an enzyme called heme oxygenase instead breaks excess heme into biliverdin, iron, and carbon monoxide.
Several mechanisms have been proposed for the production of hemozoin in Plasmodium, and the area is highly controversial, with membrane lipids, histidine-rich proteins, or even a combination of the two, being proposed to catalyse the formation of hemozoin. Other authors have described a heme detoxification protein, which is claimed to be more potent than either lipids or histidine-rich proteins. It is possible that many processes contribute to the formation of hemozoin.
The formation of hemozoin in other blood-feeding organisms is not as well-studied as in Plasmodium. However, studies on Schistosoma mansoni have revealed that this parasitic worm produces large amounts of hemozoin during its growth in the human bloodstream. Although the shapes of the crystals are different from those produced by malaria parasites, chemical analysis of the pigment showed that it is made of hemozoin. In a similar manner, the crystals formed in the gut of the kissing bug Rhodnius prolixus during digestion of the blood meal also have a unique shape, but are composed of hemozoin. Hz formation in R. prolixus midgut occurs at physiologically relevant physico-chemical conditions and lipids play an important role in heme biocrystallization. Autocatalytic heme crystallization to Hz is revealed to be an inefficient process and this conversion is further reduced as the Hz concentration increases.
Several other mechanisms have been developed to protect a large variety of hematophagous  organisms against the toxic effects of free heme. Mosquitoes digest their blood meals
extracellularly and do not produce hemozoin. Heme is retained in the peritrophic matrix, a layer of protein and polysaccharides that covers the midgut and separates gut cells from the blood bolus.
Although β-hematin can be produced in assays spontaneously at low pH, the development of a simple and reliable method to measure the production of hemozoin has been difficult. This is in part due to the continued uncertainty over what molecules are involved in producing hemozoin, and partly from the difficulty in measuring the difference between aggregated or precipitated heme, and genuine hemozoin. Current assays are sensitive and accurate, but require multiple washing steps so are slow and not ideal for high-throughput screening. However, some screens have been performed with these assays.