Fig. 5.
P yoelii infection of normocytes and reticulocytes in vivo.
Wright-Giemsa–stained thin blood smears from P yoeliiexperiment 1 (Figure 2) were recounted, and the percentage of total normocytes infected or the percentage of total reticulocytes infected was calculated (see “Materials and methods”). Each data point represents the mean ± SD. Significance (P < .05) is represented by asterisks. (A) The percentage of normocytes infected. (B) The percentage of reticulocytes infected. In the absence of the Duffy antigen, P yoeliiparasites are significantly impaired in their ability to invade normocytes and to preferentially invade reticulocytes.