Fig. 4.

P. berghei infection persists within splenic early reticulocytes after ART clearance of peripheral blood infection. Groups of BALB/c mice (n = 7) received four doses of ART and were randomly sampled on day 4 pi, 24 h after the final doses (infected and uninfected vehicle controls; IVC and UVC, respectively. 1 mg/kg n = 3, 3 mg/kg −40mg/kg n = 4). a ART doses of 20 and 40 mg/kg cleared peripheral blood parasitemia of animals culled on day 4 pi. b Numbers of splenic ER in response to ART. c Numbers of splenic EB in response to ART. d The proportion of EB and ER in the spleen. e The proportions of EB developmental stages in response to ART. f Parasitemia in splenic ER during ART treatment. g Parasite numbers in splenic ER on day 4 pi. h Absolute splenic ER gametocyte numbers on day 4 pi. i Parasitemia of recrudescent infection observed in 20 and 40 mg/kg groups (both, n = 3). One experimental replication. Significant differences were assessed by one-way ANOVA alongside Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test and indicated with asterisks: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001