Figure 2

P. falciparum gametocytes develop in humanized NSG mice.

(a) Representative pictures of stage II, III, IV and V gametocytes in peripheral blood as observed in Giemsa-stained thin blood smears. Bars represent 2 μm. (b) Kinetics of gametocytemia for stage II, III, IV and V gametocytes in peripheral blood during 35 days of infection. Results represent the average gametocytemia of 15 mice from 4 independent infection experiments. Mice were sacrificed at different time points (3 mice at day 10, 5 mice at day 14, 5 mice at day 19 and 2 mice at day 35). (c,d) Follow up of hematological parameters in 8 mice during gametocyte development. Measurement of platelets, leucocytes, hematocrit and % of hRBC in mice peripheral blood samples were performed with an automatic hematology analyzer. (e) Kinetics of asexual stages and gametocytes in peripheral blood during the course of infection. Parasitemia, gametocytemia (% of parasites in total RBCs) and prepatent period (time between inoculation and detection of parasites on thin blood smears) for each gametocyte stage were determined by counting parasites on Giemsa-stained thin blood smears. Data represent the average of 15 mice from four independent infection experiments. dpi: days post-infection.