Fig. 1
From: Revealing the kinetics of Leishmania chagasi infection in the male genital system of hamsters
High testis parasitism triggered host immune response and testosterone secretion with parasite migration to epididymis. During week seven post-infection, testis showed a high parasite burden (a). Intense parasitism triggered the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (b, c, and d). Secretion of IL-4 (e) and progesterone (f) controlled immunity and favored parasite persistence. Upon host immune response, extracellular amastigotes migrated to the epididymis (g). Representative images of extracellular amastigotes are shown in phase contrast (h) and overlay of phase contrast and amastigote staining in green (i). Arrows indicate the presence of extracellular amastigotes. ****p < 0.0001; ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05