Lipid Bodies: Inflammatory Organelles Implicated in Host-Trypanosoma cruzi Interplay during Innate Immune Responses
Figure 4
Lipid bodies (LB) within heart inflammatory macrophages increase in size in response to acute Trypanosoma cruzi infection and parasite load. (a) Strongly electron dense LBs from an infected animal are observed in the cytoplasm n conjunction with free amastigote forms of the parasite (asterisks). In (b), a giant LB is seen close to the nucleus in an irradiated-infected rat. (c) LB diameter variation in different groups. A significant increase of LB occurred in infected alone compared to uninfected and in irradiated-infected compared to infected alone groups (). Before infection, rats were irradiated or not and heart samples processed for transmission electron microscopy at day 12 of infection. Scale bar, 1.0 μm (a); 600 nm (b). Reprinted from [29] with permission.
