Fig 9. Nutrient deprivation of L. amazonensis in culture affects parasite morphology.

L. amazonensis promastigotes were grown in DMEM containing all supplements in control experiments. Cells were starved upon incubation in PBS for 24 h, or grown in DMEM lacking purines, amino acids or glucose for the same period, with FCS that was pre-dialyzed to remove low molecular weight materials. The cells were fixed and visualized by phase contrast microscopy at 100x magnification. Phase contrast images of parasites were captured with a Zeiss Axiovert 200M fluorescence microscope and photographs were obtained using an AxioCam HRm CCD camera.