Fig. 1.

Trichomonas vaginalis stimulates human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDM) to produce proinflammatory cytokines. Human macrophages (1.25 × 10⁶/well of 96-well culture plate) were incubated with live trichomonads (1, 5, and 10 × 10⁴), opsonized trichomonads (1, 5, and 10 × 10⁴) and T. vaginalis lysate (10 and 100 µg/ml). Cell culture supernatant was harvested after 6 hr and 24 hr of incubation, and analyzed for levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 using cytokine-specific ELISA. ^*P < 0.05 versus untreated macrophages.