FIG 3.

Cell morphology and stress fiber abundance in HUVEC during T. gondii infection. HUVEC were cultured to confluence on fibronectin-coated glass coverslips for 3 days and then either mock infected with fresh media or infected with T. gondii. Eighteen hours later, the cells were fixed, permeabilized, and stained to detect nuclei, VE-cadherin, or F-actin for confocal microscopy. (A) The number of nuclei per 63× field of view (FOV) was quantified. Each symbol represents one FOV. (B) The maximal cell length of individual HUVEC in each condition was determined. Each symbol represents the value for an individual cell. The means (horizontal lines) ± SEM (error bars) from 3 to 10 independent experiments are shown. Values that are significantly different (P < 0.05) by Student’s t test are indicated by a bar and asterisk. (C) Representative images of F-actin (as detected by phalloidin staining) and DAPI in mock-infected and T. gondii-infected HUVEC are shown. Bars, 20 μm. (D and E) Percent area of F-actin per 63× FOV (D) or F-actin area per cell (E) under each condition are shown. The means ± SEM (error bars) from four independent experiments are shown. Statistical significance was analyzed by Student’s t test for panels A, B, and D and by one-way ANOVA with a Tukey posttest correction for panel E and is indicated by asterisks as follows: *, P < 0.05, ***, P < 0.001.