Evaluation of splenic accumulation and colocalization of immature reticulocytes and Plasmodium vivax in asymptomatic malaria: A prospective human splenectomy study
Fig 1
Counting malaria parasites on Giemsa-stained spleen sections of human spleens.
Tissue sections stained with Giemsa were analysed in P. vivax- and P. falciparum-infected spleens at 400× magnification using a Carl Zeiss AxioScan Z1. Representative P. vivax-infected spleen sections are from patient #1 and P. falciparum from patient #17, with staging key of non-phagocytosed P. vivax and P. falciparum shown below these panels (a, asexuals) (a, b). Tissue compartments were categorised into white-pulp non-circulatory spaces and perifollicular zones, and red-pulp sinus lumen and cords. An uninfected control human spleen was perfused with P. falciparum lab strain cultures and had Giemsa-stained sections examined to validate the appearance of asexual-stage Plasmodium (c). Phagocytosed parasites (a–c) and pigmented phagocytes (d) were observed in Giemsa-stained spleen sections from infected individuals with representative images shown for each species.