Fig. 4.

Neutrophil leishmanicidal activity against L. amazonensis (La) and L. braziliensis (Lb) amastigotes. Thioglycollate-induced neutrophils were cocultured with amastigotes at a ratio of 1 parasite/10 neutrophils (MOI of 0.1) for 6 h in the presence or absence of PMA (100 nM) and/or DNase (100 U/ml). a Reduced survival of L. braziliensis amastigotes after coculture with control neutrophils or PMA-activated neutrophils as well as improved parasite survival in PMA-activated wells via treatment with DNase. b Survival of L. amazonensis amastigotes was not significantly altered by the presence of control or PMA-activated neutrophils. c Bone marrow-derived macrophages were infected with amastigotes (MOI of 3) for 24 h followed by the addition of neutrophils (at a ratio of 3: 1 neutrophils/macrophages) for 24 h. Neutrophil-mediated clearance of amastigotes from infected macrophages was measured 3–4 days later via counting (see Materials and Methods). ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, between indicated groups. n.s. = Not significant.