Figure 7

Expression of co-stimulatory molecules and cytokine production in primary macrophages after loading with doubly PS-sensitized and photo-inactivated L. braziliensis. Bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) were exposed at a host-parasite ratio of 1:10 to URO/PC2 doubly sensitized parasites with (orange bar, Mac + [Lb + ALA + Pc2 + L]) and without (black bar, Mac + [Lb + ALA + PC2]) prior exposure to red + UV light. In addition, parasites were doubly PS-sensitized and used to infect macrophages followed by their exposure to UV/red light after infection (red bar, [Mac + Lb + ALA + Pc2] + L). Macrophages alone (light grey bar, Mac), macrophages infected with untreated Lb (dark grey bar, Mac + Lb) or exposed to light only (white bar, Mac + L) served as controls. MFI of CD11b⁺F4/80⁺ macrophage populations were shown to express: (A) CD40 and (B) CD86, as determined by flow cytometry after incubation for 24 h. The presence of TNF (C), IL-6 (D) and IL-10 (E) in culture supernatants was determined by ELISA. All data are presented as mean ± . S.D. from a representative experiment performed in quadruplicate, *p < 0.05.