FIG 3.

Control of persistent T. cruzi infection by TSKB-peptide Tg mice. (A, B) The quantity of T. cruzi DNA in skeletal muscle (A) and fat (B) was detected by real-time PCR in mice during the acute phase (18 to 21 days postinfection) and chronic phase (238 to 337 days postinfection). Data points are individual mice (squares are WT, up triangles are TSKB20 Tg, down triangles are TSKB18 Tg, diamonds are TSKB20/18 Tg, and circles are uninfected naive mice) and bars are means from 4 cumulative acute-phase experiments (n = 11 to 21 per infected group) and 5 cumulative chronic-phase experiments (n = 14 to 23 per infected group). LOQ refers to the limit of detectable quantification based on serially diluted T. cruzi-spiked tissue DNA standards (0.32 parasite equivalents per 50 ng DNA). (C) Representative hematoxylin and eosin-stained skeletal muscle sections from naive or infected WT and TSKB20/18 Tg mice at 337 days postinfection. Scale bar, 200 μM. *, P < 0.05; ***, P < 0.001.