Fig. 3.

The development of P. falciparum gametocytes in the Wave Bioreactor. a Gametocyte maturity over the time. Each bar represents the percentage of a specific gametocyte stage over the total number of gametocytes (averaged over the three experiments shown in Fig. 2). b Comparison of Gametocyte maturity stages from samples collected in the Cellbag while rocking (“bottom”) or in the supernatant after the rocker was stopped for several hours (“top”). Bar represents 10 μm. c Pictures of Giemsa stained thin smears representing the different gametocyte maturity stages obtained during the culture in the Wave Bioreactor and sample of mature gametocytes harvested after purification. d Representation of sex ratio of mature gametocytes obtained by analysing thin smears prepared in three different experiments. Each bar corresponds to the percentage of male or female over the total number of mature stage V gametocytes