Fig. 5: Fifty percent of GFP⁺ neurons in mice infected with GCre parasites do not harbor parasites.

Cre reporter mice were infected with II-GCre parasites. At 21 dpi, brains were harvested and sagittally sectioned into 200 µm thick sections. Sections were cleared, stained with Hoechst ± anti-T. gondii antibodies, and imaged at 40× on a confocal microscope. Neurons in resulting images were rendered using Imaris software. A Representative rendering of a GFP⁺ neuron in which no parasites were identified. B As in A except now with a GFP⁺ neuron in which parasites were identified. White arrow shows parasites within neuron soma. C Single plane of soma from B top image: green = GFP, middle image: blue = Hoechst, bottom image: merge. Note the GFP displacement, suggesting parasite presence within the neuron, which is then confirmed by visualization of parasite nuclei stained with Hoechst (blue). D Representative image of a single plane of a rendering from a section stained with anti-T. gondii antibodies. Note that the parasite nuclei identified by Hoechst staining co-localize with the anti-T. gondii antibody staining. Green = GFP, blue = Hoechst, red = anti-T. gondii antibodies. E Graph of the percentage of rendered GFP⁺ neurons containing parasites (T. gondii⁺/infected) or not containing parasites (T. gondii^-/uninfected). N = 35 neurons from 5 mice. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.