Fig. 2
a Photomicrographs of brain tissue stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Original magnification × 1000; bars = 100 μm. Mice were inoculated with 5 × 106 parasitized RBCs or saline and treated with BM-MSCs. Brains were excised 5 days after infection. Normal brain cortex with neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes (single white arrows). Treatment with BM-MSCs did not affect the brain cortex, which displays normal neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes (black single arrows). In P. berghei-infected mice treated with saline, neurons were damaged, with an increased number of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes (double white arrows). In P. berghei-infected mice treated with BM-MSCs, brain damage was repaired, with an increased number of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes within neutrophils (double black arrows). b A semiquantitative, severity-based score was used to measure inflammation and histoarchitectural damage in brains of mice infected with P. berghei or mock-infected with saline. Twenty-four hours after infection, mice were treated with BM-MSCs. Values are expressed as median (interquartile range) of six animals in each group. *Significantly different from uninfected group (p <0.05). BM-MSC bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell, Sal saline