Virulence is recovered after <i>in vitro</i> or <i>in vivo</i> promastigote-amastigote differentiation process.

<p>BMMø were infected at a 1∶10 (cell/parasite) ratio with non-purified promastigotes differentiated from <i>in vitro</i> axenic amastigotes (<b>A</b>) or <i>ex-vivo</i> intracellular amastigotes (<b>B</b>). As a control, a naturally attenuated strain (Aten) was submitted to the same experimental conditions. Data were acquired by FACScalibur cytometer and analyzed by FlowJo software. Three independent experiments were performed; one representative experiment is shown. The mean and standard deviation are shown. *<i>P</i><0,05; **<i>P</i><0,01.