Fig. 2.

PfCS expression and human hepatic infectivity of PbVac pre-erythrocytic stages. a, b Representative Immunofluorescence microscopy images of PbCS (grey) and PfCS (purple) expressed by PbVac sporozoites a and exoerythrocytic forms in the livers of mice infected by iv injection of freshly isolated sporozoites b. c Comparative infection rates of PbVac and Pf parasites in ex vivo cultures of human hepatocytes assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy. The shading of dots indicates distinct biological replicates obtained employing human hepatocytes from different donors. The boxes correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles; the lines and bars indicate mean of infection and standard error of the mean, respectively; ***p < 0.001, as determined by Mann–Whitney U test. Scale bars: 10 µm