Various macrophage populations isolated from mice (including congenic C57BL/10ScSn and B10.LLshr) bearing resistant or susceptible alleles for the natural resistance gene (Lsh) were infected with Leishmania donovani amastigotes in vitro and examined (a) for their ability to support growth of the amastigote population over 7 days of culture in vitro, and (b) for their ability to express Lsh gene controlled resistance and susceptibility in vitro. Resident macrophages from liver (Kupffer cells), spleen and lung, as well as 7-day bone marrow-derived macrophages and bone marrow macrophages obtained after 6 weeks of continuous culture in vitro, all supported growth of the amastigote population. Of these, significant differences in amastigote numbers in macrophages from Lshs and Lshr mice were observed after 48 h of infection in vitro for liver, lung and 7-day bone marrow macrophage populations only. Resident peritoneal macrophages grown in adherent or suspension cultures neither supported growth of the amastigote population nor showed any evidence of Lsh gene expression in vitro. Hence, multiplication of the parasite appeared to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for observation of Lsh gene activity against L. donovani in vitro. Use of tritiated thymidine incorporation and autoradiography to label dividing amastigotes showed equivalent multiplication of the parasite in liver macrophages from Lshs and Lshr mice between 24 h and 48 h after infection in vitro, with a dramatic difference observed thereafter. This was consistent with earlier observations of a 2-3 day delay in expression of Lsh gene controlled resistance in vivo. Comparison with studies using Salmonella typhimurium and Mycobacterium bovis suggests that the gene may be restricted in its action to a particular point in the parasite cell cycle, perhaps at the level of regulating DNA replication.