Fig. 1

Detection of T. gondii in the CP. Mice were infected i.p. with 2 cysts of T. gondii type II ME49 and samples were collected at 5dpi. From brains, CPs were isolated under stereomicroscope, and the remaining brain tissue was processed for isolation of BMVs. A Representative image of freshly isolated CP and a phase-contrast image of isolated BMV. B Parasite burden qPCR analysis of isolated CPs (blue) and BMVs (red) from the correlated animals, which were infected at the same time, and analyzed at 3, 5 and 7dpi. The analysis was performed based on the presence of B1 gene of T. gondii (TgB1) normalized to the murine gene Asl. Data were normalized to the mean values of 3 dpi, and bar charts show individual values of a representative experiment, and mean + SEM. n = 5 per group. Statistical analysis was performed by multiple t-test, with Holm–Šidak correction for multiple comparisons. **p < 0.01. C CP whole mount staining to identify immune cells (CD45, blue), T. gondii (SAG1, red) and epithelial cells (E-cadherin, green). Scale bars = 50 µm D BMVs immune-staining to identify pericytes (PDGFRβ, blue), T. gondii (SAG1, red), and the tight junction ZO-1 (green). Yellow arrows indicate the co-localization of parasites with CD45 ⁺ immune cells, and yellow asterisks T. gondii signal alone. Scale bars = 50 µm