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Figure 1 | Malaria Journal

Figure 1

From: Effects of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) inhibitor SU5416 on in vitro cultures of Plasmodium falciparum

Figure 1

Immunocytochemistry (ICC) of cultured human red blood cells infected with Plasmodium falciparum and peripheral blood smears from mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA show uptake of VEGF into late stage parasites, not inhibited by blocking VEGFR-2 or VEGF. Fluorescence microscopy of thin blood smears after culture of human blood infected with P. falciparum with no inhibition (A), SU5416 (B), or bevacizumab (C). DNA is stained blue by DAPI, VEGF is stained green. Uninfected red blood cells and most early stage parasitized red blood cells (containing a maximum of two DNA fragments) did not stain positive for VEGF. Inlets present 1.5 x enlargement of marked area on the slide. Bar size = 10 μm. Thin blood smears taken from mice infected with P. berghei ANKA (D) showed similar staining compared to culture of human blood. Inlet presents 2 x enlargement of marked area on the slide. Bar size = 10 μm. Manual counting of parasitized red blood cells showed a significant increase in VEGF uptake in late stage PRBCs (containing more than two DNA fragments) compared to early stages (p = 0.038, E).

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