Fig. 4.

Changes in profile of major phospholipid species during development of P. falciparum gametocytes. a Phospholipid profiles of red blood cells infected with different P. falciparum gametocyte stages. PC phosphatidylcholine, PE phosphatidylethanolamine, PS phosphatidylserine, PG phosphatidylglycerol, uRBC uninfected red blood cells, Troph trophozoites, I–V gametocytes stage I to V. Means and standard deviations of three independent experiments were shown. Unpaired Student’s t test was performed using GraphPad Prism 6.0. ns, not significant; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001. b Proportion of phospholipid groups in uninfected RBCs and RBCs infected with blood-stage P. falciparum stages