Proportions of sporocyte and mature cyst stages of Pneumocystis carinii.

Whole organism population was isolated from the lungs of immunosuppressed animals as previously described [27]. Sporocyte and mature cyst stages were counted from RAL-555-stained smears according to the number of nuclei in each life cycle stage. Percentages of sporocyte and cystic stages with N nuclei in the fraction of sporocytes and mature cysts were given as mean of three independent experiments (n = 70, n = 55, n = 50). N = number of nuclei per fungal cell. SD = standard deviation.(a)Early sporocytes.(b)Sum of intermediate sporocytes with 2, 3 and 4 nuclei.(c)Sum of late sporocytes and mature cysts with 5, 6, 7 and 8 nuclei.