FIG 5.

Apoptosis accompanying moderate invasion can be minimal, whereas large numbers of sporozoites (SPZs) can disrupt cell structure and saliva protein signal. (A and B) 3D projection (MIP) or single-slice confocal images of a representative distal lateral (DL) lobe stained with DAPI (nuclei, red), WGA (chitin [O-GlcNAcylation], blue), and antisera against GFP (SPZs, green) and either cleaved caspase 3 (A; CC3, purple) or the saliva protein Anopheles antiplatelet protein (B; AAPP, purple) 23 (A) or 24 (B) days postinfection with P. berghei. Scale bar length units are micrometers. (A) A distal lobe with large numbers of SPZs (panels ii, vi, and xi) had only two cells with accumulations of the apoptosis marker CC3 (panels ii, ix, and x, arrows) and only three small basement membrane disruptions (panels iii to v and vii to viii, asterisks). The images in panels ii to v and vi to viii are from two different focal planes. A neighboring DL lobe with a single CC3-positive cell is shown in panel vi (white arrow). Signal contrast was uniformly enhanced in panels ix to xi to highlight CC3 signal (panels ix and x) and SPZs (panel xi). (B) A DL lobe (panel i) with greatly different numbers of SPZs in the proximal and distal regions (panel ii). High SPZ numbers in the proximal region correlated with cell disruption (panel v, arrows [split secretory cell distal cytoplasms and lost basement membrane attachment]) and greatly reduced levels of AAPP saliva protein staining (panel v) compared to the distal region (panel vii).