Figure 2

Imaging of Plasmodium falciparum parasites using different microscopes. The upper set of images represent typical bright field images obtained with: an Olympus BX41/Infinity 2 based digital microscopy system (left panel); a PrimoStar microscope using the 100× 1.0 NA oil immersion objective supplied with the microscope (middle panel); and the same PrimoStar fitted with a LW Scientific Lumin objective with 100× 1.25 NA oil immersion attachment (right panel). The specimen being imaged was a thin blood film prepared from a patient that had been diagnosed with P. falciparum. The lower set of images were obtained from methanol-fixed thin films which had been stained with SYBR Green I as described in reference 18. The image on the left was obtained using a Nikon Labophot Microscope equipped with a HB-10103AF epifluorescence attachment and the Infinity 2 camera system. The middle and right images were obtained using the PrimoStar fitted with the LW Scientific Lumin objective with a 100× 1.25 NA oil immersion attachment. Blue light (480 nm) was used to excite the SYBR Fluor and a low level of white light trans illumination was used to provide background detail.