Fig. 1

P. brasiliensis acute infection leads to thymic atrophy, alterations on thymus architecture and fungal invasion. Male Balb/c mice (n = 5 mice/group) were injected i.p. with Pb yeast cells. Seven days later, thymuses were analyzed for alterations on architecture and presence of yeast cells. (a) Loss of thymic weight following injection with yeast cells or PBS. (b) Cortico-medullary junction preserved by Hematoxylin-Eosin staining following injection with yeast cells or PBS. (c) Presence of yeast cells by Grocott staining method following injection with yeast cells or PBS, indicated by the arrows. (d) Unaltered expression of cytokeratin 14 by immunofluorescence following injection with yeast cells or PBS and (e) Diminished expression of cytokeratin 8 by immunofluorescence following injection with yeast cells or PBS. Photomicrography total magnification 100×. C-cortical and M-medullary areas. Data was analyzed by Student t test. Values of p ≤ 0, 01 (**) and p ≤ 0, 0001 (****) were considered statistically significant. Results are expressed by Mean ± SEM. Representative data from three independent experiments with similar results