Dynamics of <i>Toxoplasma</i> infection in C57BL/6J mice.

<p>(A) Weight variation during infection. Acute infection resulted in severe weight loss in the first two weeks, followed by a recovery phase, with animals returning to initial weight values nine weeks post-injection (dotted line). (B) All animals with acute weight loss (>5%) during the first two weeks post-infection developed brain cysts. (A,B) Saline group, n = 10; No cysts group, n = 20; Brain cysts group, n = 19. (C) Immunofluorescence and phase contrast images of GFP-expressing cysts in the mouse brain. DNA was artificially stained in red. (D) Efficiency of chronic infection increased with number of parasites injected (injected animals: 1000 parasites n = 14; 10 000 parasites n = 13; 100 000 parasites n = 21). (E) Average number of cysts formed in the mouse brain did not depend on the number of parasites injected (1000 parasites n = 1 out of 14; 10 000 parasites n = 5 out of 13; 100 000 parasites n = 17 out of 21).