Figure 1.

Growth curves of Leishmania spp promastigotes upon IGF-I stimulus. L. major, L. amazonensis, L. infantum, and L. braziliensis promastigotes (5 × 10⁵/mL) were cultured in 199 medium (Cultilab, Brazil) and Schneider's Insect medium (Sigma-Aldrich, USA), respectively, supplemented with 5% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS) (Cultilab, Brazil) at 26°C, with or without 50 ng/mL IGF-I (rIGF-I, R&D Systems, USA). The growth of parasites was monitored by daily counting, for 10 days, in a Neubauer chamber, and the results are presented as the number of parasites × 10⁷/mL (mean ± standard deviation) from three independent cultures with or without 50 ng/mL IGF-I. ^∗p < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA) compared with the culture without IGF-I (adapted from Reis et al. [65]).