Figure 8. Effects of verapamil, aureobasidin A (aurA) and both together on the percentage of infected Mø, the number of amastigotes per infected Mø and the release of NO by infected and non-infected Mø.

(A) Coverslips plated with murine peritoneal Mø were infected with TCT forms of T. cruzi (in the ratio of 5 parasites·Mø⁻¹) for 1 h, washed and incubated with fresh medium alone (control) or a medium containing 1 μg·ml⁻¹ verapamil (ver), 25 μg·ml⁻¹ aurA or both (ver+aurA) as indicated. After 3 days, the coverslips were fixed and stained with Giemsa, and the percentage of infected Mø as well as the number of amastigotes·Mø⁻¹, the average number of amastigotes per infected Mø and the number of Mø·mm⁻² were determined by direct counting. Results are the means±S.D. for three independent experiments. (B) Plated Mø were infected (+) or not (−) with TCT forms of T. cruzi for 1 h, washed and then incubated with fresh medium containing (+) or not containing (−) LPS+IFN-γ in the absence or presence of 1 μg·ml⁻¹ verapamil, 25 μg· ml⁻¹ aurA or both verapamil and aurA as indicated at the bottom. After 2 days of culture, aliquots of the supernatant were taken for the measurement of level of production of NO. The graph represents the mean values of duplicate measurements from two independent experiments.