Overview of <i>Coccidioides</i> spp. and human neutrophils.

<p>A. Endemic areas of <i>Coccidioides</i> spp. B. Life cycle of <i>Coccidioides</i> spp. Vegetative mycelia exist in the soil and produce arthrospores during periods of low precipitation. Following aerosolization and inhalation of arthrospores, immature spherules develop and transition into large spherules containing hundreds of endospores. The mature spherules eventually rupture and release the endospores, reinitiating the spherule/endospore phase. (Adapted from [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0129522#pone.0129522.ref012" target="_blank">12</a>] with permission.). C. Composite videomicrographs of typical <i>C</i>. <i>posadasii</i> endospores (<i>top</i>) and spherules (<i>bottom</i>). D. Composite brightfield videomicrographs of quiescent human neutrophils as used in the experiments. E. H&E-stained human neutrophils after neutrophil enrichment. All images in C-E are shown at the same magnification (some cell shrinkage occurred during H&E-staining). The common scale bar denotes 10 μm.