Table 2.

Effect of Viable and Killed L. infantum Promastigotes on BMDC CD40 and CD86 Surface Expression

Cell Treatment	CD40	CD86
Cells	14.73 ± 4.39	34.30 ± 2.63
L. infantum	12.32 ± 1.78 (NS)	31.25 ± 2.44 (NS)
Heat-killed L. infantum	28.64 ± 1.20**	44.41 ± 8.68 (NS)
Fixed L. infantum	37.57 ± 1.67***	89.46 ± 19.18 (NS)
Beads	36.96 ± 5.02***	281.50 ± 74.54***

BMDCs were infected with L. infantun promastigotes at an infection ratio of 10:1 (parasites/cell). In parallel, cells were exposed to polystyrene beads and heat-killed or glutaraldehyde-fixed parasites in the same ratio as that used for infection. After 24 hours, the surface expression of CD40 and CD86 was measured on gated CD11c⁺ cells by flow cytometry. Each value represents the geometric mean ± SD from three independent experiments: NS, not significant; 

^**P < 0.01; 

^***P < 0.001.