Fig. 2

Model scheme of RBC turnover. Two pools of RBCs are modelled, namely RBC (unlabelled RBCs) and bRBC (biotinylated RBCs), the sum of which equals the total number of RBCs and is proportional to the total amount of haemoglobin present. Production of RBCs by erythropoiesis only increases the unlabelled RBC pool (RBC). Both pools of RBCs (RBC + bRBC) are prone to removal by four processes: age-dependent death (senescence), age-independent (random) death, removal of uninfected RBCs (uRemoval), and removal due to parasitization. Parasitization occurs when a merozoite (M) infects a RBC, thus becoming an infected RBC (iRBC). Infected RBCs stimulate an immune-response (I), which in turn leads to the removal of infected RBCs. At the start of a simulation, all RBCs are biotinylated. All pools of RBCs have age-classes, which are not depicted in the scheme for simplicity. Unlabelled and biotinylated RBCs have 3840 age-classes, whereas infected RBCs have only 48 age-classes