Effect of Allopurinol on L. Major Promastigots Resistant to Glucantim In vitro

Treatment of Leishmaniasis which is endemic in 97 conutries around the world is important and is ranked 7th among research priority of WHO. As the number of resistant types to glucantim (drug of choice) is increasing, investigation on the effect of other drugs like allopurinol seems essential. In this survey, we cultured L-Major ASKH5 promatigotes in different media containing glucantim with concentrations up to 250 mg/ml. Then we observed the cytological changes of L-Major ASKH5 promastigote and investigated and compared the effect of different concentrations of alloporinol (from 0.0025 to 0.5 mg/ml) by measuring the growth rate percentage of wild and resistant types. Our cytological survey showed that the size of promastigote and the length of its flagell decreases while the number of pseudoamastigot forms increases in the resistiing process. After 48 hours of incubation, the growth rate of wild type was more than resistant type. Also, the growth rate of the wild type under the influence of allopourinol was decreased significantly. However, increasing allopurinol concentration did not have significant effect on the growth rate of wild type. The growth percentage of resisant type was reduced at concentrations of 0.01 and 0.02 mg/ml of allopurinol, while it had no significant effect at higher or lower concentrations. As a result of this survey, it is recommended that allopourinol to be prescribed as an oral and cheap medicine for the L-Major wild type, but it is should not be prescribed alone in the resistant type