Effects of cell contact and endocytosis on endothelial cell injury caused by A fumigatus. (A) Extent of endothelial cell injury caused by conidia of A fumigatus H237 that were added directly onto endothelial cell monolayers in a 24-well plate and/or into 0.4 μm cell culture inserts suspended above the monolayers. (B) Extent of endothelial cell injury caused by A fumigatus H237 conidia in the presence of the indicated concentrations of the microfilament inhibitor, cytochalasin D. Endothelial cell injury was measured after 8 hours of infection and the results are the mean ± standard deviation of at least 3 independent experiments. Error bars indicate standard deviation. *P < .001 compared with control.