Figure 3.

Analysis of cerebral complications in mice infected with wt⁺ and Δpm4⁺ parasites. A: Histological analysis of the brains of C57BL/6 mice with asynchronous infections at day 7 after injection of wt⁺ or Δpm4⁺ parasites. Longitudinal sections of the brain, stained with H&E, show extensive hemorrhagic areas in wt⁺-infected animals (black arrows), which are absent in Δpm4⁺-infected mice. In brains of wt⁺-infected mice, infected erythrocytes, recognized by pigment granules, were found as infiltrates in brain tissue (red arrow). B: Representative digital images of Evans Blue dye extrusion analysis of brains of wt⁺ or Δpm4⁺-infected C57BL/6 mice at day 7 postinfection. The blue staining of the brains shows vascular leakage in wt⁺-infected animals, which is absent in the brains of Δpm4⁺-infected mice. C: Bioluminescent images of brain isolated from C57BL/6 mice at day 7 after infection with 10⁵ wt⁺ or 10⁵ to 10⁶ Δpm4⁺ parasites showing a significant higher parasite load (see D) in brains of wt⁺ than in brains of Δpm4⁺-infected mice as a result of differences in accumulation of infected erythrocytes in brain tissue. Percentages shown represent the parasitemias at the time of collection of the brains. D: Differences in luminescence signal between the brains of mice infected with either wt⁺ or Δpm4⁺ parasites (n = 6) showing the differences in parasite load. *P < 0.05.