Fig. 3.

ΔLABCG1-2 parasites are less infective in a mouse model of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Susceptible BALB/c mice were infected with 10⁵ WT (diamonds, black histograms), ΔLABCG1-2 (squares, grey histograms) and add-back (ΔLABCG1-2 + LABCG1-2; triangles, white histograms) L. major parasites in the stationary growth phase. Disease development was monitored weekly by measuring the footpad swelling (a) and lesion size (b). The pictures in c show the lesion at week 5 post-infection. The results represent the mean ± SD of two independent experiments, with 6 mice per group. Mice were euthanized when the lesion size in controls reached a value of 60–80 mm². *P < 0.05 vs WT parasites