Figure 2

P. falciparum is highly pro-inflammatory. (A) Peripheral (plain circles) and peritoneal (open circles) parasitaemia (average of 31 mice ± SEM) counted on blood smears and percentage of human glycophorin A+ RBC grafted in mouse peripheral blood detected by FACS among total RBC (full circle, dotted line). Parasitemia lower than 0,001 are not considered. (B) Total number of leukocyte per μl of blood (plain circle) at different times post-infection. The numbers of CD11b⁺ F4/80⁺ monocytes (black square, dotted line) and CD11b⁺ Ly-6G⁺ PMN (white triangle) were calculated from the percentages obtained by FACS analysis. The percentage of CD43^- CD62L⁺ Ly-6C⁺ inflammatory monocytes was also assessed by FACS (open circle, dotted line). (C) Cytokines/chemokine levels were estimated using the CBA mouse inflammatory cytokines kit by FACS. (D) Representative peritoneal blood smears showing the progressive phagocyte recruitment following P. falciparum infection. Results represent the means ± SEM from 3 distinct experiments (n = 14 mice).