FIG. 3.

Splenic parasite burdens in BALB/c mice treated with topical liposomal PM. The number of viable L. major parasites in the spleens of different groups of mice was quantified by the limiting dilution assay at 8 weeks (a) and 12 weeks (b) after infection with L. major promastigotes. The spleens were aseptically removed, homogenized in RPMI-FCS, and diluted with the same medium in eight serial 10-fold dilutions in each well of flat-bottom 96-well microtiter plates containing a solid layer of blood agar. The plates were kept at 25°C for 1 week and were then read to score the number of positive wells (positive wells contained one or more promastigotes). The final titer was the last dilution for which the well contained at least one parasite. (a) Values are the means ± standard errors of the means (n = 4), and there were statistically significant (P < 0.001) differences between the LPMF-treated and the control groups; (b) values are the means ± standard errors of the means (n = 6), and there were statistically significant (P < 0.001) differences between the LPMF-treated and the control groups.