We have studied the effect of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) on the infectivity of promastigotes of Leishmania amazonensis, an obligate intramacrophage parasite. We measured the capacity of the promastigotes to infect macrophages after preincubation at different temperatures (28, 34, and 37 degrees C) with recombinant murine GM-CSF, as well as the effect of an anti-mu...

Development of new therapeutic approach to treat leishmaniasis has become a priority. In the present study, the antileishmanial effect of β-nitrostyrenes was investigated against in vitro promastigotes and amastigotes. A series of β-nitrostyrenes have been synthesized by using Henry reaction and were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities by broth microdilution assay and in vitro antileis...

OBJECTIVES The pterocarpanquinone LQB-118, previously demonstrated to be effective in vivo via oral delivery, was investigated for its mechanism in selective parasite killing. METHODS Oxidative stress in Leishmania amazonensis was analysed by evaluating reactive oxygen species (ROS) production (2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate) and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) ...

Sterols are necessary for the growth of trypanosomatid protozoans; sterol biosynthesis is a potential target for the use and development of drugs to treat the diseases caused by these organisms. This study has used (14)C-labelled substrates to investigate the carbon sources utilized by promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana for the production of sterol [mainly ergosta-5,7,24(24(1)...

background: pteridine metabolic pathway is unusual features of leishmania , which is necessary for the growth of parasite. leishmania has evolved a complex and versatile pteridine salvage network which has the ability of scavenging a wide area of the conjugated and unconjugated pteridines espe-cially folate and biopterin. in this study, we focus on the inhibition of ptr1 gene expression. method...

The objective of the present study was to evaluate in vitro antileishmanial activity of leaves form Plumeria pudica Jacq. (Apocynaceae). In the present study, the in vitro antileishmanial activity of petroleum ether, chloroform and methanol extracts from P. pudica leaf was evaluated against Leishmania donovani (strain AG 83) promastigotes by in vitro promastigote cell toxicity assay by using MT...

Macroautophagy in Leishmania, which is important for the cellular remodeling required during differentiation, relies upon the hydrolytic activity of two ATG4 cysteine peptidases (ATG4.1 and ATG4.2). We have investigated the individual contributions of each ATG4 to Leishmania major by generating individual gene deletion mutants (Δatg4.1 and Δatg4.2); double mutants could not be generated, indica...

The effect of ergosterol depletion by ketoconazole on the leishmanicidal activity of the pore-forming antibiotic amphotericin B (AmB) was investigated. Leishmania mexicana promastigotes were lysed within minutes by the addition of micromolar concentrations of AmB (0.5 microM) but became insensitive to AmB after growth in the presence of ketoconazole (0.25 microM, 90 h). Lipid chromatographic an...

BACKGROUND Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Southeastern Anatolia, mainly in Sanliurfa and Hatay provinces, and the causative agents are mostly Leishmania tropica and less frequently L. infantum. Here, we report the first MALDI-TOF analyses of Leishmania promastigotes obtained from the cultures of two CL cases from Osmaniye and Hatay provinces who were initially diagnosed by microscop...