Fig. 1

Loading of aggregative peptides into ghost RBCs. A ProteoStat® in vitro aggregation assay of aggregative peptides conjugated to fluorescein-labeled CPPs. The control normalized to 100% aggregation corresponds to the unconjugated, fluorescein-free aggregative peptides. a.u.: arbitrary units. Graphs show the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. B Scheme of peptide loading into P. falciparum ghosts. C, D Flow cytometry analysis of the targeting of fluorescein-labeled CPP-conjugated aggregative peptides in ghost and regular RBC suspensions. C Fraction of RBCs positive for fluorescein-labeled peptides. D Colocalization analysis of Plasmodium and fluorescein-labeled peptides 72 h post-infection. The parasitemias achieved in all cases were within the expected values for regular P. falciparum cultures. Bars represent the means ± SEM of at least two independent experiments where 30,000 events were recorded in the flow cytometer. *: p ≤ 0.05; **: p ≤ 0.01; ***: p ≤ 0.001; ****: p ≤ 0.0001