Table 1. Evaluation of in vitro infection.

Ratio	Percentage of infected macrophages
	R0	R10	R20	R30
1∶2	65.1±1.5	37.8±3.2	19.2±3.6	14.9±2.3
1∶10	96.9±2.6	82.8±1.4	64.1±2.5	59.5±2.2

Murine macrophages (5×10⁵ cells) were infected with stationary promastigotes of L. amazonensis (1×10⁶ and 5×10⁶, by a ratio of 1∶2 or 1∶10 macrophage per parasites, respectively) and the cultures were incubated for 24 h at 37°C, 5% CO₂. Next, free parasites were removed and the percentage of infected cells and the number of amastigotes per macrophage in each passage (R0, R10, R20, and R30) were analyzed by counting 200 cells in triplicate. Mean ± SD is shown. Data shown are representative of three separate experiments, performed in triplicate, which presented similar results.