Sporozoite Passage into the Liver Parenchyma

<div><p>(A–E) show individual frames extracted from an intravital movie; (F) is a projection visualizing the transmigration path of the GFP P. berghei sporozoite in a Tie2-GFP mouse liver. (G–I) show projections from an intravital movie demonstrating the path of the parasite; its overall direction is indicated by arrows (dotted lines).</p> <p>(A) After gliding along a sinusoid, a sporozoite has encountered a Kupffer cell, which it faces with its apical cell pole.</p> <p>(B and C) Following a pause, the parasite slowly enters the Kupffer cell.</p> <p>(D and E) Sporozoite passage into the liver parenchyma occurs at a slow speed and involves the formation of a constriction in the parasite (arrow).</p> <p>(F) Once inside the liver tissue, the sporozoite increases its speed and transmigrates through several hepatocytes.</p> <p>(G) A projection from an intravital movie shows the path of a GFP P. berghei sporozoite gliding against the bloodstream along a sinusoid in a lys-EGFP-ki mouse liver. Eventually, the parasite encounters a Kupffer cell.</p> <p>(H) The sporozoite stops, facing the phagocyte with its apical cell pole. The outline of the two Kupffer cells in the image is indicated by dotted lines.</p> <p>(I) After slowly passing through the Kupffer cell, the sporozoite enters the liver parenchyma and migrates through several hepatocytes.</p> <p>Bars = 10 μm. See <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0030192#sv005" target="_blank">Videos S5</a> and <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0030192#sv006" target="_blank">S6</a>.</p>