Figure 2. Lack of L. (L.) amazonensis arginase leads to differential modulation of expression of genes involved in the polyamine and NO production pathways.

The BMDMs (1 × 10⁶) were infected with La-WT (red) or La-arg⁻ (blue) L. (L.) (MOI 5:1). After 4 and 24 h of infection, the copy numbers of mRNAs of Nos2 (A), Arg1 (B), Cat2B (C), and Cat1 (D) from macrophages and La-ARG (E) and the La-AAP3 5.1 (F) from Leishmania were quantified by real-time RT-qPCR. Each bar represents the average ± SEM of the values obtained in 3 independent experiments (n = 6). Statistical significance was determined based on two-tailed Student’s t test. *p < 0.05, compared to uninfected macrophages (0 hours of infection). **p < 0.05, La-WT compared to La-arg⁻. n.d. (not detected).