ABSTRACT
Leishmania donovani-infected Syrian hamsters were treated intraperitoneally with 0.23 mmoles/kg/day of EDTA; EGTA; HEEDTA and 100 mg/kg/day of Pentostam R. The control group received 0.1 ml of phosphate buffered saline. After 30 days of treatment; the animals were sacrificed. Of the Pentostam-treated animals; 5 out 6 had negative spleen cultures; while all the chelator and PBS-treated ones yielded parasites. While all the Pentostam-treated hamsters yielded had negative bone marrow cultures; only 1 out of 6 HEEDTA-treated hamsters yielded parasites. Spleen; liver and bone marrow parasite-loads calculated from chelator-treated animals were consistently significantly higher than for Pentostam-treated animals. These results suggest that although metal ion chelators have some antileishmanial potential; their in vivo activity against L. donovani is low compared to Pentostam
Subject(s)
Animals , Chelating Agents , Leishmaniasis , Leishmaniasis/drug therapy , MesocricetusABSTRACT
Identical impression smears of spleen; liver and bone marrow biopsy materials from Leishmania donovani-infected hamsters were stained using either acridine orange or Giemsa. Spleen parasite-loads calculated from the two stains for identical biopsy material were significantly different from each other. However; liver and bone marrow parasite-loads calculated from either Giemsa-stained or acridine orange-stained biopsies were not significantly different from each other. This study has shown that acridine orange; which is a quick and simple technique; has great potential in the diagnosis of kala-azar when liver and bone marrow biopsies are used