Abstract
Efficient staining methods to identify Plasmodium-infected red blood cells (iRBCs) are crucial to discriminate precisely the immune cells responsible for their elimination from circulation. Here, we describe the protocol for the purification of iRBCs and their subsequent staining with the vital dyes Cell Tracer Violet (CTV) or CellTracker Red CMTPX (CMTPX), both of which readily diffuse into cells and bind covalently to intracellular amines. The iRBCs stained by using this protocol were used in ex vivo phagocytosis assays, to determine the ability of splenic dendritic cells of phagocytizing these parasites (Borges da Silva et al., 2015).
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Acknowledgments
HBdS was supported by an award from FAPESP (number: 2014/008105) and MRDL was supported by a grant from FAPESP (number: 2013/071402), and from CNPq 303676/20140 (MRDL) and 448765/20144 (MRDL). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
References
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