<i>C. difficile</i> spores remain intact inside the phagosome of Raw 264.7 cells.

<p>TEM images of Raw 264.7 cells infected with <i>C. difficile</i> spores under aerobic conditions (A–C, E, F) and with <i>B. subtilis</i> spores (D). TEM micrographs were taken after 30 min (A,B and D–F) and 24 h of infection. A) TEM shows that <i>C. difficile</i> spores are efficiently phagosytosed by Raw 264.7 cells. B), Phagosome containing <i>C. difficile</i> spores fuses with lysosomes, white arrows denotes fusion of lysosomes with the phagosome. C), <i>C. difficile</i> spores remain intact after 24 h of infection with Raw 264.7 macrophages. D) TEM micrograph of phagosytosed <i>B. subtilis</i> spores by Raw 264.7 cells. Phagosome’s membrane remains intact. E) TEM image showing phagocytosed <i>C. difficile</i> spore in a phagosome with membrane damage, white arrows denote disrupted phagosome membrane. F) TEM image rendering direct interactions between the surface of <i>C. difficile</i> spores and the phagosome’s membrane. White scale bar is 500 nm for panels A–C, and 100 m, for panels D-F.