Figure 5

Effect of maslinic acid treatment at different infection periods in the accumulation of P. falciparum erythrocytic stages. Bars show the percentage of rings (white), trophozoites (grey), schizonts (black) and pyknotic (hatched) forms observed after 12 h incubation with 100 μM MA at ring (R+MA), trophozoite (T+MA) and schizont (S+MA) stages. Data collected by microscopic inspection of Wright's-stained blood smears and compared with controls untreated (top) and cultivated in the presence of 100 μM MA throughout the whole experiment (bottom). The percent of each group accounts for the fraction of cells showing every parasite stage out of a total of 1,000 erythrocytes. Results are representative of two experiments.