The relationship of the numbers of amastigotes in the liver to the duration of infection with two lines of a Khartoum strain of Leishmania donovani [designated the parent (P) line and the meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime) resistant (MAR) line] and the effect of meglumine antimoniate on these two lines of Leishmania were studied in the squirrel monkey. All experimental monkeys were inoculated via the saphenous vein with 32.5 X 10(6) amastigotes (per kg body weight), obtained from heavily-infected hamster spleens. Subsequently in Experiment I, liver biopsy samples were taken chronologically from all monkeys. Imprints of liver were made on glass slides and stained with Giemsa's staining solution, and parasite density per gram of liver tissue was determined. The parasites reached a maximum density of 6.2 X 10(6) amastigotes per gram between two to four weeks and 9.4 X 10(7) amastigotes per gram between four to six weeks in the monkeys receiving the P line and the MAR line, respectively. Parasite numbers then decreased, and all the livers and spleens of all monkeys became microscopically negative for Leishmania eight to 13 weeks post-infection. Comparison of the multiplication of the two lines of Leishmania indicated that the MAR line persisted longer in the livers than did the P line. A slight decrease in body weight was observed at eight weeks post-infection. Packed cell volume and haemoglobin were low at four to eight weeks post-infection, but were within the normal range.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)