Figure 5. Low-grade P. chabaudi chronic infection does not affect ASC longevity.

(A) Cartoon showing the course of the experiment. To test whether low-grade chronic infections of P. chabaudi in mice affect the longevity of MSP1₁₉-specific ASC, C57Bl/6 mice infected with 10⁵ P. chabaudi iRBC were either given the antimalarial drug CQ or saline (indicated by arrows) as described in the experimental procedures. Both groups of mice were then treated with 140mg CY/Kg body weight at day 45 of infection as described in the experimental procedures (indicated by the arrow and blue box) and sacrificed 7 days later for the determination of numbers of MSP1₁₉-specific ASC. (B) Comparison of the total numbers of MSP1₁₉-specific IgG ASC (left panel) and MSP1₁₉-specific IgM ASC (right) panel in the spleens (upper graphs) and bone marrow (lower graphs) of CQ-treated (red circles) and untreated control (blue circles) mice. Background values from naive uninfected mice have been subtracted from all the values shown. Each symbol represents an individual mouse, and the horizontal bars indicate the median values of 4 mice. The naïve background was zero for each of the four graphs. The numbers of ASC in the two groups at each time point were compared using a Mann Whitney test; * indicates the differences were significant (p values are shown), and ns no significant differences.