Serum from healthy, nonimmune humans contained immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies that agglutinated Leishmania donovani promastigotes, activated complement, and enhanced promastigote ingestion by human monocytes. The findings indicate that IgM antibodies have the capacity to affect the initial interaction of L. donovani promastigotes with human host defenses.

the early cytokines production in response to live logarithmic and stationary phase promastigotes of leishmania major was examined on the peripheral blood cells of the healthy individuals. whole blood cultures were stimulated by either logarithmic or stationary phase promastigotes. ifn- and il-10 productions were assessed by specific sandwich elisa. the results showed that the logarithmic prom...

The obligate intracellular protozoan, Leishmania infantum chagasi (Lic) is the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis in South America. The flagellated promastigote life stage of the parasite undergoes receptor-mediated phagocytosis by macrophages. This process is followed by a transient delay in phagolysosome maturation that allows for conversion into the amastigotes, a stage that is resist...

OBJECTIVE The present study aimed to elucidate the cell death mechanism in Leishmania donovani upon treatment with KalsomeTM10, a new liposomal amphotericin B. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We studied morphological alterations in promastigotes through phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy. Phosphatidylserine (PS) exposure, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and disruption of ...

Tamoxifen is an antagonist of the estrogen receptor and currently used for the treatment of breast cancer. The current treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with pentavalent antimony compounds is not satisfactory. Therefore, in this study, due to its antileishmanial activity, effects of tamoxifen on the growth of promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania major Iranian strain were evaluated in ...

BACKGROUND Phosphatidylserine (PS) and surface carbohydrates (SC) are known as virulence factors that may contribute to the different clinical symptoms ranging from self-healing cutaneous leishmaniasis lesions to fatal visceral disease. Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis causes localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL) and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL). METHODS We analyzed PS exposure and SC...

Transgenic Leishmania infantum promastigotes, which constitutively express green fluorescent protein (GFP) in their cytoplasm, were used to monitor the effects of antileishmanial compounds in real time. The GFP-based assay provided a reliable measure of drug-induced inhibitory effects on protein expression, resulting in a dynamic picture of the responses of leishmanial promastigotes to the comp...

Zanthoxylum rhoifolium Lam. (Rutaceae) has been traditionally used in the treatment of microbial infections and parasitic diseases. In the present study, the antileishmanial effect induced by the ethanol extract of stem barks from Z. rhoifolium (ZR-EEtOH) and its n-hexane fraction (ZR-FHEX) on infection and infectivity of murine macrophages by promastigote forms of Leishmania amazonensis were i...

Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. There is no vaccine against human leishmaniasis and the treatment of the disease would benefit from a broader spectrum and a higher efficacy of leishmanicidal compounds. We analyzed the leishmanicidal activity and the mechanism of action of the calcium ionophore, calcimycin. L. major promastigotes were...

A chemically defined medium to grow the promastigotes of 19 stocks of Leishmania is described. The medium was developed by making qualitative and quantitative modifications of the medium AR-103 devised for Trypanosoma cruzi. The new medium, designated as MD-29, can be used in studies on the nutritional requirements of promastigotes.