Figure 4

Cadherin distribution in SkMC after 24 h of T. gondii interaction. Confocal Microscopy analysis showing: (A) In 3-day-old SkMC cultures, after differentiation, myoblasts present intense cadherin labeling at the contact points (arrows). (B and C) In myoblasts after 24 h of interaction with T. gondii (thick arrow), cadherin (thin arrow) becomes disorganized forming aggregates at different sites, around and inside the parasitophorous vacuole (for detail, see inset). (D) Infected myoblasts after 24 h of interaction with T. gondii have little or no labeling for cadherin at points of cell-cell contact (thick arrow). Note that only uninfected cells show strong cadherin expression (thin arrow). Nuclei of cells and parasites labeled with DAPI, in blue. Bars, 20 μm