Use of chicken (Gallus gallus) serum as a costly replacement for the fetal calf serum in cultivation of promastigotes of Leishmania infantum

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of chicken serum as an alternative to fetal calf serum (FCS) in the culture of Leishmania.MethodsIn the present work, the efficacy of chicken serum was evaluated in the cultivation of promastigotes of Leishmania infantum (L. infantum), by assassing the parasite growth and replication pattern after adding 5%–10% chicken serum to the RPMI-1640 medium.ResultsThe 10% chicken serum enriched culture medium, supported the growth of L. infantum.ConclusionsAccording to our finding, the chicken serum can be used for primary and mass cultivation of L. infantum is an effective, easy available and low-cost replacement for FCS.