Figure 4

Dot-plot graph of N. caninum burdens. Parasite burdens were quantified by real-time PCR in placenta (P) and foetal liver (FL) and brain (FB) from animals inoculated with 10⁶ Nc-Spain7 tachyzoites at days 40 -G1- (D40), 90 -G2- (D90) and 120 -G3- (D120) of gestation. Each dot represents individual values of parasite burden (number of parasites per mg of host tissue), and medians are represented as horizontal lines. Taking into account that the N. caninum detection limit by real-time PCR is 0.1 parasites, negative samples (0 parasites) were represented on the log scale as < 0.1 (i.e. 10⁻²). (***) indicates P < 0.001 significant differences between infected groups in each tissue.