Figure 4

L. longipalpis SGS favors viability of L. infantum inside peritoneal cells. C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with L infantum and/or SGS. Transmission electron microscopic images of peritoneal cells after 1 h of infection with L. infantum are shown. Degraded L. infantum inside neutrophils (A) and monocytes (B) are showed. Viable parasites were observed in neutrophils (C) and monocytes (D) in those animals infected in the presence of L. longipalpis SGS. Insets indicated by white arrowheads shows details of parasite inside parasitophorous vacuoles (PV) outlined in white (50X-fold increase). P- parasite. Viable parasites inside infected neutrophils (E) and monocytes (F) were enumerated by electron microscopy and presented as parasite viability index calculated as described in Methods section. (*, p < 0.05 and Mann–Whitney test, two-tailed).