Fig. 7.
Aedes aegypti SGE impairs bacterial internalization and microbicidal activity by murine macrophages. Thioglycolate-elicited peritoneal macrophages were collected and cultured as described in “Methods”. Cells were preincubated with complete medium (control group) or with SGE (final concentration: 40 μg/ml) for 1 h and stimulated with green fluorescent E. coli at a multiplicity of infection of 10. Bacterial uptake was evaluated after 1 h by flow cytometry and represented as density plots (a) and as median fluorescence intensity (MFI) (b) in F4/80+ cells (macrophages); the bacterial killing was estimated after 5 h by determination of colony-forming units (c). Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05 versus E. coli group