| increase in cytosolic ca2+ levels through the activation of non-selective cation channels induced by oxidative stress causes mitochondrial depolarization leading to apoptosis-like death in leishmania donovani promastigotes. | reactive oxygen species are important regulators of protozoal infection. promastigotes of leishmania donovani, the causative agent of kala-azar, undergo an apoptosis-like death upon exposure to h2o2. the present study shows that upon activation of death response by h2o2, a dose- and time-dependent loss of mitochondrial membrane potential occurs. this loss is accompanied by a depletion of cellular glutathione, but cardiolipin content or thiol oxidation status remains unchanged. atp levels are red ... | 2002 | 11983701 |
| predicting kala-azar disease manifestations in asymptomatic patients with latent leishmania donovani infection by detection of antibody against recombinant k39 antigen. | clinically visceral leishmaniasis is suspected in only a fraction of infected persons, as the majority of these may not have clinical manifestations and remain asymptomatic. there is scanty information on diagnosing latent infections and predicting disease in asymptomatic persons. we therefore carried out a study on asymptomatic contacts of patients with visceral leishmaniasis and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis by using methods for detection of antibody to recombinant k39 (rk39) antigen. a ... | 2002 | 11986261 |
| the performance of direct agglutination tests (dat) in the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis among ethiopian patients with hiv co-infection. | the incidence of visceral leishmaniasis (vl) in ethiopia has dramatically increased over the last 10 years, coinciding with the advent of the hiv epidemic. hiv co-infection in vl patients results in atypical, clinical and serological presentations, and may hamper serological diagnosis of vl. the performance of direct agglutination tests (dat) in the diagnosis of vl in 103 ethiopian patients with or without hiv infection was therefore investigated. the dat results indicated that 96 of the patient ... | 2002 | 11989530 |
| superior chemotherapeutic efficacy of amphotericin b in tuftsin-bearing liposomes against leishmania donovani infection in hamsters. | chemotherapeutic efficacy of the amphotericin b (amp b), which is the drug of choice for treatment of the leishmanial infections (kala-azar) that become resistant to the conventional chemotherapy using antimonials, has been examined in the leishmania donovani infected hamsters after encapsulating the drug in tuftsin-free as well as tuftsin-bearing liposomes. the activity was significantly increased (p < 0.05) by delivering amp b in tuftsin-free liposomes. this antileishmanial effect of the lipos ... | 2002 | 11996085 |
| humoral and cellular immune responses to glucose regulated protein 78 -- a novel leishmania donovani antigen. | the recently cloned glucose regulated protein 78 (grp78) of leishmania donovani has been suggested as a new and promising leishmania vaccine candidate. we assessed antibody and t-cell reactivity to grp78 in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) and in lymphoproliferative assays. serological evaluation of plasma samples obtained in sudan revealed that 89% of patients with visceral leishmaniasis (vl), 78% with post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (pkdl), and 85% with cutaneous leishmaniasis ... | 2002 | 12000658 |
| functional analysis of cathepsin b-like cysteine proteases from leishmania donovani complex. evidence for the activation of latent transforming growth factor beta. | cathepsin b-like genes from leishmania donovani and leishmania chagasi have been isolated and characterized. it is a single gene, which is constitutively expressed in all the life cycle stages of the parasite. studies using cathepsin b-specific inhibitor treatment suggested that cathepsin b does not seem to play a role in the promastigote stages of the parasite, however it aids in the parasite survival within the host macrophages. antisense mrna inhibition of cathepsin b gene also revealed that ... | 2002 | 12000761 |
| cloning and characterization of a leucyl aminopeptidase from three pathogenic leishmania species. | aminopeptidases are emerging as exciting novel drug targets and vaccine candidates in parasitic infections. in this study, we describe for the first time an aminopeptidase from three highly pathogenic leishmania species. intronless genes encoding a leucyl aminopeptidase (lap) were cloned from leishmania amazonensis, leishmania donovani, and leishmania major, which encoded 60-kda proteins that displayed homology to leucyl aminopeptidases from gram-negative bacteria, plants, and mammals. the lap g ... | 2002 | 12006595 |
| methotrexate conjugate with branched polypeptide influences leishmania donovani infection in vitro and in experimental animals. | methotrexate (mtx) has been coupled to various structurally related, polycationic (poly[lys(dl-ala(m))] (ak), poly[lys(ser(i)-dl-ala(m))] (sak), poly[lys(dl-ala(m)-leu(i))] (alk)), or amphoteric (poly[lys(glu(i)-dl-ala(m))] (eak)) synthetic branched polypeptides containing poly[l-lys] backbone by the aid of bop reagent. the average degree of mtx incorporation was found to be dependent on the charge properties of the polymer. under the experimental conditions used, the molar substitution ratio ac ... | 2002 | 12009941 |
| adenine phosphoribosyltransferase isoforms of arabidopsis and their potential contributions to adenine and cytokinin metabolism. | adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (apt; ec 2.4.2.7) is a constitutively expressed enzyme involved in the one-step salvage of adenine to amp. the arabidopsis thaliana genome contains five sequences annotated as encoding apt or apt-like enzymes. three of these have now been cloned, over-expressed and compared using kinetic analyses. at a cytosolic ph, all bind adenine efficiently based on their km values (0.8-2.6 &mgr;m), although apt1 metabolizes adenine at a rate 31-53 times faster than apt2 and ... | 2002 | 12010467 |
| carboxy terminal domain of the largest subunit of rna polymerase ii of leishmania donovani has an unusually low number of phosphorylation sites. | the c-terminal domain (ctd) of the largest subunit of rna polymerase ii in higher eukaryotes has an altered form in leishmania donovani. to determine whether this is a general feature of the kinetoplastida and to investigate the role of this domain in parasitic rna pol ii transcription, we isolated the gene encoding rna pol ii ls (rpoliils) and analyzed its c-terminal domain. the discreteness observed may be due to a functional constraint delineating parasite from host. | 2002 | 12011776 |
| visceral leishmaniasis in paediatrics. | visceral leishmaniasis is a vector-borne systemic infection, which affects half a million people each year in many areas of the world. typical disease manifests with fever, hepatosplenomegaly, pancytopenia, and progressive deterioration of the host. although molecular methods appear promising as a non-invasive diagnostic tool, definite diagnosis still relies on the demonstration of the parasite in tissue. pentavalent antimonial compounds remain the mainstay of treatment worldwide, except in indi ... | 2002 | 12015464 |
| identification of amastigote-specific antigens of leishmania donovani using kala-azar patient sera. | antigenic characterization of the soluble fraction of axenic amastigotes of leishmania donovani ( strain dd8, causative agent of indian kala-azar) and their comparison with promastigotes is reported. the axenic amastigotes were assessed for their immunological status employing anti-a2 monoclonal antibody which is extremely specific for l. donovani amastigotes. sds-page of 35[s] methionine labeled proteins of the two parasite stages exhibited few stage specific and some conserved antigens in both ... | 2001 | 12019753 |
| flavonoids from tephrosia aequilata. | from the roots of the plant tephrosia aequilata baker, five flavonoids were isolated of which, 3,4:8,9-dimethylenedioxypterocarpan is reported for the first time. its structure and those of the already known flavonoids were established by physical and spectroscopic analysis. application of 2d nmr techniques was useful for complete characterization of the new pterocarpan as well as the other known flavonoids. | 2002 | 12031428 |
| antigenuria in visceral leishmaniasis: detection and partial characterisation of a carbohydrate antigen. | the detection of antigen in the urine is increasingly being used for diagnosis of parasitic infections. a urinary antigen has recently been demonstrated in visceral leishmaniasis (vl), using a latex agglutination test. the results of our study show that the detected antigen is: heat-stable, precipitates with acetone and ethanol but not tca, is sensitive to periodate and acid hydrolysis but not to pronase e, lipase, or neuraminidase. the antigen is a low molecular weight glycoconjugate that can b ... | 2002 | 12039673 |
| lymphatic leishmaniasis--first case report from nepal. | we report a case of exclusive involvement of lymph node in leishmaniasis presenting as generalized lymphadenopathy. the diagnosis of lymphatic leishmaniasis was confirmed by the presence of leishmania donovani body in fine needle aspiration cytology, positive direct agglutination test and anti-rk39 antibodies. the bone marrow aspiration was negative for leishmania donovani body. this is the first case of lymphatic leishmaniasis reported from nepal. | 2001 | 12041549 |
| charaterization of leishmania major friedlin telomeric terminus. | here we have characterized leishmania major (friedlin) telomeric terminus (the very end) using recombinants obtained by a vector-adaptor cloning protocol. as in l. donovani, the last nine nucleotides of l. major terminus are 5'-ggttagggt-oh 3', differing from trypanosoma cruzi and t. brucei terminus 5'gggttaggg-oh 3', thus indicating that these sequences are genus specific. we have also made a comparative analysis between l. major and l. donovani telomere-associated sequences, and described a no ... | 2002 | 12048562 |
| molecular probes and the polymerase chain reaction for detection and typing of leishmania species in mexico. | leishmaniasis in mexico is a public health problem because all the clinical forms have been recorded in most mexican states. we studied patients showing clinical symptoms of any form of leishmaniasis, from several endemic areas. bone marrow samples, aspirates or skin biopsies were taken and deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) was extracted and amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) with universal primers ajs1 and deb8, specific for the leishmania subgenus leishmania. the pcr products were then ... | 2002 | 12055821 |
| visceral leishmaniasis in india: promises and pitfalls of a pcr-based blood test. | traditional methods of diagnosing visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) in india suffer from a number of disadvantages. amplification of multicopy nuclear genes and messenger ribonucleic acid of leishmania by the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) was evaluated as an alternative assay under various clinical conditions. pcr of peripheral blood has the highest absolute sensitivity among all the available procedures, and is particularly useful for detecting parasites in early infections, post kala-azar d ... | 2002 | 12055835 |
| homologous minicircles in leishmania donovani. | leishmania minicircular deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) is arranged into different classes according to sequence. these classes differ substantially in sequence, despite species- and genus-specific regions, and are present in widely different copy numbers within and between leishmania strains. homologous minicircles have been identified in different species of leishmania by comparing sequences of known minicircles. however, it is possible to select for minicircles of the same class by amplifying lei ... | 2002 | 12055855 |
| towards a standard battery of microsatellite markers for the analysis of the leishmania donovani complex. | the investigation of microsatellite markers has recently superseded that of isoenzymes for many population-biology applications. microsatellites have the advantages of being dominant, neutral, highly polymorphic and easily scored by high-throughput methods. however, it is necessary to develop a new panel of markers for each group of organisms of interest. previously, only about 5% of the markers that amplify leishmania major microsatellite loci were also found to amplify l. donovani loci. a pane ... | 2002 | 12061973 |
| trypanosoma cruzi heat-shock protein-70 kda,alone or fused to the parasite kmp11 antigen, induces functional maturation of murine dendritic cells. | we analyse the effect of trypanosoma cruzi heat-shock protein-70 (hsp70) on the maturation of murine dendritic cells (dc)generated from bone marrow precursor cells. the results obtained show that hsp70, both alone and fused to the kmp11 antigen, as well as a hsp70 fragment, is capable of maturing murine dc. mature dc have enhanced expression of il12, tnf-alpha cytokines, costimulation molecules and activation markers, showing a clear increase in the allostimulatory capacity. these findings sugge ... | 2002 | 12067411 |
| effect of testosterone on leishmania donovani infection levels of murine bone marrow derived-macrophages. | to investigate the effect of the male sex hormone, testosterone (te), on leishmania donovani infection levels of bone marrow derived macrophages(bmms) from female mice of strain c57bl/6j. | 1998 | 12078252 |
| [analysis of nuclear dna gene types of leishmania isolates from hilly and plain foci of china]. | to analyse the nuclear dna (ndna) polymorphism of leishmania isolates from hilly and plain foci of china. | 1998 | 12078288 |
| chemokine-induced leishmanicidal activity in murine macrophages via the generation of nitric oxide. | this study explored the role of the proinflammatory chemokines macrophage inflammatory protein (mip)-1alpha and macrophage chemoattractant protein (mcp)-1 for development of antileishmanial activity. there was substantial inhibition in nitrite generation in leishmania donovani-infected macrophages. a marked elevation of nitrite generation and induction of inducible nitric oxide (no) synthase (inos) mrna was found in chemokine-primed parasite-infected macrophages. tumor necrosis factor-alpha, whi ... | 2002 | 12085314 |
| diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using urine samples. | a diagnostic method has been developed to detect anti-leishmania donovani immunoglobulin g (igg) in urine by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). in measuring anti-l. donovani igg, iga, and igm in urine, the method performed best in the detection of igg. the sensitivity and specificity of the assay were determined with panels of urine samples from 62 visceral leishmaniasis (vl) patients, 59 healthy controls from areas of endemicity, 53 healthy controls from areas of nonendemicity, 59 malar ... | 2002 | 12093674 |
| the effect of beta-tubulin-specific antisense oligonucleotide encapsulated in different cationic liposomes on the suppression [correction of supression] of intracellular l. donovani parasites in vitro. | an antisense oligonucleotide (20 mer) targeted to the parasite beta-tubulin gene and encapsulated in cationic liposomes, was used to test its antileishmanial activity in vitro. cationic liposomes containing dioleyl trimethyl ammonium propane (dotap) were found to have higher antileishmanial activity (88% at 4 microm oligonucleotide) compared to two other liposomes with stearyl amine (sa) and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (ctab) as cations. dot-blot experiments were performed to analyse the ex ... | 2002 | 12097156 |
| cutaneous involvement in a rare case of adult visceral leishmaniasis acquired in israel. | skin lesions are rare in visceral leishmaniasis, especially in mediterranean countries. we describe an unusual case of visceral leishmaniasis in a 41-year-old man that began with a skin lesion. the parasites isolated from both the skin lesion and the bone marrow were typed as leishmania donovani sensu stricto. this pathogen is not endemic in israel or neighboring countries; its contribution to adult visceral leishmaniasis in israel is summarized. | 2002 | 12099746 |
| functional aspects of the leishmania donovani lipophosphoglycan during macrophage infection. | the most abundant surface glycoconjugate of the leishmania promastigotes is lipophosphoglycan, a glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol-anchored polymer of the repeating disaccharide-phosphate gal(beta1,4)manalpha1-po4 unit. this complex molecule possesses properties that contribute to the ability of leishmania to modulate macrophage signaling pathways during the initiation of infection. | 2002 | 12106791 |
| peptoid inhibition of trypanothione reductase as a potential antitrypanosomal and antileishmanial drug lead. | one route to the design of lead compounds for rational drug design approaches to developing drugs against trypanosomiasis, chagas' disease and leishmaniasis is to develop novel inhibitors of the parasite-specific enzyme trypanothione reductase. a lead inhibitor based on a peptoid structure was designed in the present study based on the known strong competitive inhibition of trypanothione reductase by n-benzoyl-leu-arg-arg-beta-naphthylamide and n-benzyloxycarbonyl-ala-arg-arg-4-methoxy- beta-nap ... | 2002 | 12107758 |
| effect of ph and temperature on protein kinase release by leishmania donovani. | during their life cycle leishmania are exposed to environments that differ markedly in ph and temperature. the effect of these factors on protein kinase release into the surrounding environment by leishmania donovani promastigotes was examined. promastigotes release protein kinase activity both constitutively and following induction by incubation with an exogenous substrate, phosvitin. the substrate specificity of the constitutive and induced activities was similar, unlike that previously descri ... | 2002 | 12117491 |
| leishmania priming of human dendritic cells for cd40 ligand-induced interleukin-12p70 secretion is strain and species dependent. | a major question in the study of leishmaniasis is what dictates clinical disease expression produced by different leishmania species, i.e., cutaneous versus systemic and healing versus nonhealing. animal models using a leishmania species associated with self-limiting cutaneous disease (l. major) have revealed that protective immunity requires cd40/cd40 ligand (cd40l)-dependent, interleukin-12 (il-12)-driven th1 responses. we recently showed that l. major can prime human dendritic cells (dcs) for ... | 2002 | 12117904 |
| leishmania promastigotes release a granulocyte chemotactic factor and induce interleukin-8 release but inhibit gamma interferon-inducible protein 10 production by neutrophil granulocytes. | recent data from our laboratory suggest that neutrophil granulocytes (polymorphonuclear leukocytes [pmn]) can serve as host cells for leishmania major in the early phase of infection. in line with these findings, an early influx of pmn to the infected tissues was shown by others to be associated with susceptibility to infection with l. major. the mechanisms underlying the initial pmn recruitment to the site of infection is poorly understood. in the present study we investigated whether leishmani ... | 2002 | 12117926 |
| expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in skin lesions of patients with american cutaneous leishmaniasis. | cytokine-inducible (or type 2) nitric oxide synthase (inos) is indispensable for the resolution of leishmania major or leishmania donovani infections in mice. in contrast, little is known about the expression and function of inos in human leishmaniasis. here, we show by immunohistological analysis of skin biopsies from mexican patients with local (lcl) or diffuse (dcl) cutaneous leishmaniasis that the expression of inos was most prominent in lcl lesions with small numbers of parasites whereas le ... | 2002 | 12117977 |
| visceral leishmaniasis in two cases of leukemia. | two cases of visceral leishmaniasis (vl), one in a 51-year-old man with accelerated-phase chronic myeloid leukemia and another in a 35-year-old woman with acute myeloblastic leukemia, are reported. incidental finding of leishman-donovan (ld) bodies in patients with leukemia highlights vl as a potent opportunistic infection in immunosuppressed patients. | 2002 | 12118454 |
| antileishmanial activity of the antiulcer agent omeprazole. | the benzimidazole compound omeprazole, used widely for the treatment of peptic ulcer disease, inhibits the growth of leishmania donovani, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis. promastigotes cultured at acidic ph and amastigotes within infected macrophages are reduced 90% or more with 150 microm omeprazole. antiparasitic action of the drug is due to its inhibition of the p-type k(+),h(+)-atpase on the surface membrane. this enzyme is important for ph homeostasis and the maintenance of pr ... | 2002 | 12121934 |
| resistance to arsenite modulates expression of beta- and gamma-tubulin and sensitivity to paclitaxel during differentiation of leishmania donovani. | differentiation of leishmania donovani promastigotes into infectious amastigotes is accompanied by differential tubulin gene expression. tubulin is one of the proposed targets of clinically useful antileishmanial agents and its expression is known to alter due to drug resistance. in this study, beta- and gamma-tubulin expression under various stages of differentiation was measured in an in vitro generated arsenite-resistant l. donovani strain. results showed higher constitutive expression of bet ... | 2002 | 12122434 |
| visceral leishmaniasis: a rare cause of post-transplant fever and pancytopenia. | despite the endemic distribution of visceral leishmaniasis in certain parts of our country, there are only a few reports of this infection in renal transplant recipients. we report one renal transplant recipient from non-endemic area with visceral leishmaniasis and graft dysfunction that responded to treatment with stibogluconate. the infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a febrile transplant recipient with pancytopenia and allograft dysfunction. | 2002 | 12126362 |
| interferon-gamma treatment induces granulomatous tissue reaction in a case of localized cutaneous leishmaniasis. | leishmania spp. suppress macrophage activity as part of their interaction with the immune system. interferon-gamma (ifngamma), a cytokine that participates in the activation of macrophages and the killing of intercellular parasites, induces healing of leishmaniasis. we investigated a sequence of local and systemic inflammatory cell parameters after ifngamma therapy in a patient with chronic, localized, cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by leishmania donovani. histology, immunohistochemistry, polyme ... | 2002 | 12142611 |
| cloning, characterization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of leishmania hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. | hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (hgprt) (ec 2.4.2.8) is an important enzyme involved in the recycling of purine nucleotides in all cells. parasitic protozoa of the order kinetoplastida are unable to synthesize purines de novo and use the salvage pathway for the synthesis of nucleotides; therefore, this pathway is an attractive target for antiparasitic drug design. the hgprt gene was cloned from a leishmania tarentolae genomic library and the sequence determined. the l. tarentolae ... | 2002 | 12147338 |
| alkaloids from narcissus angustifolius subsp. transcarpathicus (amaryllidaceae). | seven alkaloids have been isolated from fresh bulbs of narcissus angustifolius subsp. transcarpathicus (amaryllidaceae). nangustine, reported here for the first time, is the first 5,11-methanomorphanthridine alkaloid with a c-3/c-4 substitution. the structure and stereochemistry of this new alkaloid, as well as those previously known, have been determined by physical and spectroscopic methods. spectroscopic data of pancracine have been completed. the in vitro assay activity against the parasitic ... | 2002 | 12150811 |
| diagnosis of american visceral leishmaniasis in humans and dogs using the recombinant leishmania donovani a2 antigen. | a2 proteins are expressed in the amastigote stage of leishmania donovani and are composed predominantely by a conserved repetitive element. here, we have investigated the presence of anti-a2 antibodies in a panel of american visceral leishmaniasis (vl) sera. anti-a2 antibodies were detected by elisa, using a recombinant a2 protein containing a tag of six histidine residues (a2-his), in 77% of patients sera with symptomatic vl and in 87% of sera from dogs that tested positive in leishmania immuno ... | 2002 | 12151189 |
| atropo-enantioselective total synthesis of knipholone and related antiplasmodial phenylanthraquinones. | the "lactone concept" has been efficiently employed for the first atropo-enantioselective synthesis of knipholone and related natural phenylanthraquinones. besides the regio- and stereoselective construction of the biaryl axis, another important step was the "synthetically late" introduction of the c-acetyl group, either by a friedel-crafts type acetylation or by an ortho-selective fries rearrangement first tested on simplified model systems and subsequently applied to the highly atroposelective ... | 2002 | 12153257 |
| pristane (2,6,10,14-tetramethyl-pentadecane) inhibits disease progression in leishmania-infected balb/c mice. | the course of leishmania infection in pristane-primed balb/c mice infected with either leishmania major or leishmania donovani was examined. pristane-primed l. donovani infected mice had spleen parasite-loads that were 13 times less than controls. likewise pristane-primed l. major infected animals had significantly smaller footpad lesion areas than controls. pristane-primed mice had an atypical haematology compared to controls. to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrat ... | 1994 | 12153340 |
| ethyleneglycol-bis-((-aminoethyl ether) n,n,n(1),n(1), -tetraacetic acid (egta) inhibits leishmania donovani in vitro. | exposure of leishmania donovani culture promastigotes to ethyleneglycol-bis-((-aminoethyl ether) n,n,n(1),n(1),-tetraacetic acid (egta) concentrations of between 0.2 to 1.6 mg/ml significantly inhibited their growth, though the different concentrations did not significantly differ between themselves on their effect on promastigotes in cell free media. egta concentrations of between 0.05 and 0.1 mg/ml were non-toxic to mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro. treatment of l. donovani-infected macro ... | 1994 | 12153341 |
| establishment of an appropriate inoculum dose of leishmania donovani promastigotes required to establish a visceral infection in laboratory animal rodent models. | syrian hamsters and balb/c mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with various doses of stationary phase leishmania donovani promastigotes derived from primary, secondary and tertiary cultures. axenic derived amastigotes from a tertiary culture and mass-culture derived promastigotes from primary, secondary, and tertiary cultures were also used. animals were sacrificed after 30 days incubation period and parasite-loads quantified from giemsa stained spleen smears. a primary inoculum dose of 1 x10 ... | 1994 | 12153342 |
| cross-reactive studies in visceral leishmaniasis: comparison of antigens of some leishmania species in kenya. | little is known about the common antigens of the various strains of leishmania in kenya, and their possible role in immunity to disease. kenyan isolates of leishmania donovani, l. major and l. tropica were cultured, crude antigens prepared and electrophoresced in sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page). immunoblots by pooled sera from cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis patients revealed common antigens within the 110-116kd, 70kd and the 63kd ranges. only the 112-1 ... | 1995 | 12160441 |
| screening of metal ion chelators against leishmania donovani-infected syrian hamsters. | 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 animals had negative bone marrow cultures, only 1 out of ... | 1995 | 12160448 |
| comparison of giemsa and acridine orange stains for the diagnosis of leishmania donovani in biopsies of infected hamsters. | 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 ... | 1995 | 12160449 |
| determination of the optimal edta and pentostam concentration in the treatment of leishmania donovani-infected laboratory animal rodent models. | | 1995 | 12160454 |
| screening of metal ion chelators against leishmania donovani-infected balb/c mice. | | 1995 | 12160455 |
| antileishmanial dinitroaniline sulfonamides with activity against parasite tubulin. | novel dinitroaniline sulfonamides based on the herbicide oryzalin 3 were synthesized and evaluated for activity against the parasitic protozoan leishmania donovani and against leishmanial tubulin, the putative antiparasitic target of oryzalin. a subset of these compounds possess more activity against both leishmania and the target protein in vitro. compound 20 displays improved potency against leishmanial tubulin and is 13.4-fold more active against l. donovani axenic amastigotes than oryzalin. | 2002 | 12161141 |
| peripheral intramonocytic and intraneutrophil leishmanias observed in a chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (cmmol) patient. | | 2002 | 12161378 |
| regulation of reticuloendothelial iron transporter mtp1 (slc11a3) by inflammation. | acute and chronic inflammation cause many changes in total body iron metabolism including the sequestration of iron in phagocytic cells of the reticuloendothelial system. this change in iron metabolism contributes to the development of the anemia of inflammation. mtp1, the duodenal enterocyte basolateral iron exporter, is also expressed in the cells of the reticuloendothelial system (res) and is likely to be involved in iron recycling of these cells. in this study, we use a lipopolysaccharide mo ... | 2002 | 12161425 |
| a role for tumor necrosis factor-alpha in remodeling the splenic marginal zone during leishmania donovani infection. | the development of secondary lymphoid organs is a highly regulated process, mediated by tumor necrosis factor (tnf) family cytokines. in contrast, the mechanisms controlling changes in lymphoid architecture that occur during infectious disease are poorly understood. here we demonstrate that during infection with leishmania donovani, the marginal zone of mice undergoes extensive remodeling, similar in extent to developmental abnormalities in mice lacking some tnf family cytokines. this process is ... | 2002 | 12163368 |
| extract screening by hplc coupled to ms-ms, nmr, and cd: a dimeric and three monomeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids from ancistrocladus griffithii. | three new monomeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, ancistrogriffines a, b, and c, and the first dimer of a 7,8'-coupled naphthylisoquinoline, ancistrogriffithine a, have been detected by phytochemical online screening of plant extracts of ancistrocladus griffithii, using the analytical 'triad' hplc-ms/ms, hplc-nmr, and hplc-cd. ancistrogriffithine a, as well as ancistrogriffines a and c, were structurally completely assigned (including the absolute configuration) right from the extract, without ... | 2002 | 12169315 |
| vectorial efficacy of phlebotomus argentipes in kala-azar endemic foci of bihar (india) under natural and artificial conditions. | ability of phlebotomus argentipes to acquire leishmania donovani the causative agent of indian kala-azar was evaluated in the laboratory. flies were fed artificially on infected blood suspensions, using a chick-skin-membrane feeding apparatus, and naturally on leishmania donovani infected mice. in addition flies collected from different endemic areas were dissected and examined for natural infection. flies fed on infected mice showed significantly higher feeding rate (14.4%, p < 0.01) compared t ... | 2001 | 12170928 |
| histopathologic analysis of hamster hepatocytes submitted to experimental infection with leishmania donovani. | hepatocytes from different vertebrates are used increasingly as models of environmentally driven cell structure plasticity and for the investigation of ultrastructural pathological patterns induced by cell injury. the present study was carried out to assess the morphological changes in hamster hepatocytes subjected to chronic infection by amastigote forms of leishmania donovani. liver fragments were processed for routine light and transmission electron microscopy. for cytochemical visualization ... | 2002 | 12172815 |
| leishmania donovani phosphofructokinase. gene characterization, biochemical properties and structure-modeling studies. | the characterization of the gene encoding leishmania donovani phosphofructokinase (pfk) and the biochemical properties of the expressed enzyme are reported. l. donovani has a single pfk gene copy per haploid genome that encodes a polypeptide with a deduced molecular mass of 53 988 and a pi of 9.26. the predicted amino acid sequence contains a c-terminal tripeptide that conforms to an established signal for glycosome targeting. l. donovani pfk showed most sequence similarity to inorganic pyrophos ... | 2002 | 12180974 |
| activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase attenuates leishmania donovani infection in macrophages. | leishmania-induced macrophage dysfunctions have been correlated with altered signaling events. in this work, we report that sb203580, a specific inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (mapk), increases leishmania donovani survival in human peripheral blood mononuclear macrophages. consistent with this finding, activation of p38 and c-jun n-terminal kinase (jnk) mapk signaling pathways by anisomycin significantly reduced parasite survival within these cells. however, the majority of t ... | 2002 | 12183549 |
| infectivity and virulence of leishmania donovani promastigotes: a role for media, source, and strain of parasite. | transformation of promastigotes of leishmania donovani strain ag83 from amastigotes derived from an infected animal was studied in three media, schneider's drosophila medium (sdm), medium 199 (m199), and biphasic m199 (b-m199) with 10% fetal bovine serum. the media, sdm and b-m199, both supported a more efficient transformation of promastigotes in comparison with m199. infectivity studies in hamsters and balb/c mice showed that promastigotes isolated in b-m199 were several folds more infective t ... | 2002 | 12188216 |
| humanitarian assistance in un operations: laboratory and consultative support of a local hospital in eritrea. | the united nations mission to eritrea and ethiopia deployed to monitor a cease-fire in a mutually agreed upon temporary security zone. support for the united nations (un) troops included a field dressing station supplied by the dutch navy, augmented by canadian personnel. as with most missions of this type, the health of the deployed canadian and dutch soldiers is such that there is time to provide some medical support to local civilian institutions. this article describes this interaction in er ... | 2002 | 12188236 |
| leishmania lpg3 encodes a grp94 homolog required for phosphoglycan synthesis implicated in parasite virulence but not viability. | leishmania promastigotes express an abundant cell surface glycoconjugate, lipophosphoglycan (lpg). lpg contains a polymer of the disaccharide-phosphate repeat unit galbeta1,4manalpha1-po4, shared by other developmentally regulated molecules implicated in parasite virulence. functional complementation of a leishmania donovani lpg-defective mutant (ob1) accumulating a truncated lpg containing only the manalpha1-po4 residue of the first repeat unit identified lpg3, the leishmania homolog of the mam ... | 2002 | 12198148 |
| in vitro activity of triclisia patens and some bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids against leishmania donovani and trypanosoma brucei brucei. | in the search for antiprotozoal compounds from natural sources, triclisia patens displayed activity against l. donovani promastigotes (ic(50) = 1.5 microg/ml) and t. b. brucei blood stream trypomastigote forms (ic(50) = 31.25 microg/ml). in addition, a total of 20 bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids were screened for antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activity in vitro. fangchinoline (ic(50) = 0.39 microm) was found to be as active as the standard pentamidine against leishmania donovani promastigo ... | 2002 | 12203262 |
| a proteomic approach to identify developmentally regulated proteins in leishmania infantum. | we used comparative two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-de) and mass spectrometry methodologies to highlight and identify proteins that are differentially expressed in the intracellular stage of the parasite leishmania donovani infantum, a causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis. during its digenetic life cycle, leishmania alternates between the alimentary tract of the sandfly vector as an extracellular promastigote and the acidic phagolysosomes of macrophage cells as an intracellular amast ... | 2002 | 12203896 |
| strain typing in leishmania donovani by using sequence-confirmed amplified region analysis. | to differentiate strains of leishmania donovani, allelic markers at the dna level were developed by sequence-confirmed amplified region analysis (scar). homologous fragments from different strains of l. donovani were amplified by pcr using random primers and subsequently screened for single-strand conformation polymorphisms. direct sequencing revealed 55 sequence polymorphisms in eight co-dominant dna markers; 38 of them were single point mutations. heterozygosity was evident for 69% and fixed h ... | 2002 | 12204226 |
| laboratory diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. | | 2002 | 12204943 |
| immunoblot analysis of the humoral immune response to leishmania donovani polypeptides in cases of human visceral leishmaniasis: its usefulness in prognosis. | sera from indian patients with parasitologically confirmed visceral leishmaniasis were studied by immunoblot analysis in order to identify a specific pattern for leishmania infection. a soluble extract of leishmania donovani was used as antigen. at diagnosis the sera from patients with visceral leishmaniasis specifically recognized fractions represented by bands of 201 kda (50% of serum samples), 193 kda (60%), 147 kda (50%), 120 kda (60%), 100 kda (50%), 80 kda (80%), 70 kda (70%), 65 kda (100% ... | 2002 | 12204969 |
| genetic analysis of multicase families of visceral leishmaniasis in northeastern brazil: no major role for class ii or class iii regions of hla. | familial aggregation, high relative risk to siblings, and segregation analysis, suggest genetic control of visceral leishmaniasis in brazil. class ii gene effects in mice, and high circulating tumour necrosis factor alpha in humans, provide reasons to target hla. fifteen polymorphic markers across 1.03 mb (dqb1 to tnfa) were genotyped (87 multicase families; 638 individuals). model-based parametric analyses using single-point combined segregation and linkage in comds, or multi-point linkage in a ... | 2002 | 12209362 |
| long lasting protection against canine kala-azar using the fml-quila saponin vaccine in an endemic area of brazil (são gonçalo do amarante, rn). | naturally exposed dogs of an endemic area were vaccinated with the fucose mannose ligand (fml) antigen of leishmania donovani in formulation with quila saponin. the 100% of vaccinees were seropositive to fml and showed intradermal reaction to l. donovani lysate, 2 months after vaccination. the absorbency values and size of intradermal reaction were both significantly higher in vaccinees than in controls along a 3.5 years period (anova, p<0.0001). the 25% of the control animals (two dogs on the f ... | 2002 | 12213397 |
| [present-day specific features of visceral leishmaniasis in georgia]. | | 2002 | 12214518 |
| extramitochondrial localization of nadh-fumarate reductase in trypanosomatids. | trypanosoma brucei procyclic trypomastigotes and t. cruzi epimastigotes (both tulahuen and y strains) were permeabilized by incubation with increasing amounts of digitonin, causing enzymes to be released from different intracellular compartments. after 10 min incubation with digitonin, the cells were centrifuged and the activity of marker enzymes (aspartate-dependent malic enzyme for cytoplasm, hexokinase for glycosomes and either isocitrate dehydrogenase or citrate synthase for mitochondria) wa ... | 2002 | 12223208 |
| hemophagocytic syndrome as the presenting manifestation of visceral leishmaniasis. | hemophagocytosis in visceral leishmaniasis is rare and usually mild. however, presentation as hemophagocytic syndrome is exceptionally rare. we report the case of a 28 years man who presented with fever, hepatosplenomegaly, pancytopenia, reactive histiocytes and severe hemophagocytosis. subsequent investigations revealed he had leishmania donovani infection. | 2002 | 12240858 |
| [nramp1 gene: structure, function, and human infectious diseases]. | the human infectious disease become of the great importance for health welfare. the infectious diseases mortality rate reaches one third of total mortality among 51 million patients died annually. the genetic factors seem to be most responsible for potency of human body to withstand to infections, caused by a variety of causative agents. the detection of the coincident factors and understanding the mechanisms of formation of susceptibility and resistance to infectious agents appeared to be impor ... | 2002 | 12243064 |
| a single-domain cyclophilin from leishmania donovani reactivates soluble aggregates of adenosine kinase by isomerase-independent chaperone function. | disaggregation and reactivation of aggregated proteins by chaperones is well established. however, little is known regarding such kind of function of single-domain small cyclophilins (cyps). here we demonstrate that, with increasing concentrations, fully active adenosine kinase (adk) of leishmania donovani tends to form soluble aggregates, resulting in inactivation. using this inactive enzyme as the substrate, it is shown that a cyp from l. donovani (ldcyp) alone can cause complete disaggregatio ... | 2002 | 12244046 |
| expression of calreticulin p-domain results in impairment of secretory pathway in leishmania donovani and reduced parasite survival in macrophages. | the secretory proteins of leishmania are thought to be involved in the parasite survival inside the insect vector or mammalian host. it is clear from studies in higher eukaryotes that proper folding in the endoplasmic reticulum and targeting out of the endoplasmic reticulum is critical for the function of secretory proteins. the endoplasmic reticulum chaperones such as calreticulin play an important role in the quality control of secretory proteins. however, very little is known about the secret ... | 2002 | 12350377 |
| crystallization and preliminary x-ray analysis of cyclophilin from leishmania donovani. | cyclophilin from the parasite leishmania donovani is a protein with peptidylprolyl cis-trans isomerase activity, in addition to being a receptor for the drug cyclosporin. crystals of the enzyme have been obtained in space group p4(3)2(1)2, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 48.73, c = 140.93 a, and diffract to 3.5 a resolution. one molecule per asymmetric unit gives a solvent content and matthews coefficient of 46% and 2.3 a(3) da(-1), respectively. molecular-replacement calculations with human c ... | 2002 | 12351834 |
| interleukin-10 (il-10) in experimental visceral leishmaniasis and il-10 receptor blockade as immunotherapy. | interleukin-10 (il-10) is thought to promote intracellular infection, including human visceral leishmaniasis, by disabling th1 cell-type responses and/or deactivating parasitized tissue macrophages. to develop a rationale for il-10 inhibition as treatment in visceral infection, th1 cytokine-driven responses were characterized in leishmania donovani-infected balb/c mice in which il-10 was absent or overexpressed or its receptor (il-10r) was blockaded. il-10 knockout and normal mice treated prophy ... | 2002 | 12379707 |
| studies on stibanate unresponsive isolates of leishmania donovani. | visceral leishmaniasis, also known as kala-azar (ka) is generally caused by leishmania donovani. organic pentavalent antimonials (sbv) is the first line of treatment for ka. however, the number of ka patients unresponsive to treatment with sb(v) is steadily increasing in india and elsewhere. the primary objective of this work is to determine the factor(s) associated with the rise of unresponsiveness. analysis of the clonal population of parasites clearly indicated that wild type parasites isolat ... | 2002 | 12381874 |
| development of a fast agglutination screening test (fast) for the detection of anti-leishmania antibodies in dogs. | a fast agglutination screening test (fast) for the detection of anti-leishmania antibodies in serum samples from dogs with visceral leishmaniosis was developed. the test is based on the direct agglutination test (dat), but combines a higher parasite concentration with a smaller test volume. in contrast to the dat, the fast makes use of only one serum dilution and the results can be read within 3 h as opposed to 18-20 h for the dat. the fast was evaluated using serum samples of confirmed cases of ... | 2002 | 12383620 |
| leishmania ef-1alpha activates the src homology 2 domain containing tyrosine phosphatase shp-1 leading to macrophage deactivation. | the human leishmaniasis are persistent infections of macrophages caused by protozoa of the genus leishmania. the chronic nature of these infections is in part related to induction of macrophage deactivation, linked to activation of the src homology 2 domain containing tyrosine phosphatase-1 (shp-1) in infected cells. to investigate the mechanism of shp-1 activation, lysates of leishmania donovani promastigotes were subjected to shp-1 affinity chromatography and proteins bound to the matrix were ... | 2002 | 12384497 |
| peroxisomal targeting protein 14 (pex14) from leishmania donovani. molecular, biochemical, and immunocytochemical characterization. | pathogens of the leishmania and trypanosoma genera compartmentalize glycolytic and other nutritional pathways in glycosomes, unique subcellular organelles related to the peroxisomes of mammals and yeasts. most glycosomal proteins are targeted to the glycosomes by a cooh-terminal tripeptide signal similar to the peroxisomal targeting signal-1 (pts-1). it has been proposed that pts-1 forms a complex with the pex5 receptor protein which then docks to the glycosomal membrane through interactions wit ... | 2002 | 12387850 |
| alteration of fas and fas ligand expression during human visceral leishmaniasis. | several studies in murine systems have suggested a role of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of leishmaniasis. however, the role of apoptosis in visceral leishmaniasis in man has not been explored. in this study, we show that patients with visceral leishmaniasis demonstrate significant dysregulation of fas and fas ligand. levels of soluble fas (sfas) and soluble fas ligand (sfasl) were elevated in plasma of patients with active visceral leishmaniasis (vl) and individuals co-infected with vl-hiv-1 co ... | 2002 | 12390320 |
| assessment of the antiprotozoal activity of galphimia glauca and the isolation of new nor-secofriedelanes and nor-friedelanes. | four new terpenoids, comprising three nor-secofriedelanes (1-3) and one nor-friedelane (4), were isolated from galphimia glauca, together with the known flavonol quercetin and the sterols stigmasterol and sitosterol 3-o-beta-d-glucoside. the structure elucidation of the new isolates was conducted by 1d and 2d nmr techniques. compounds 1-4 were given the trivial names galphin a, galphin b, galphin c, and galphimidin, respectively. all isolates were tested for in vitro antiprotozoal and cytotoxic ... | 2002 | 12398543 |
| evaluation of selected sudanese medicinal plants for their in vitro activity against hemoflagellates, selected bacteria, hiv-1-rt and tyrosine kinase inhibitory, and for cytotoxicity. | ethnobotanical investigations led to the selection of 19 plant species, used traditionally in sudan against malaria and other similar tropical diseases, for further studies. pamianthe peruviana (amaryllidaceae) exhibited significant activity against a chloroquine-resistant plasmodium falciparum strain (k1) and a chloroquine-sensitive strain (nf54) with ic(50) values of 0.6 and 1.1 microg/ml, respectively. additionally, p. peruviana showed considerable activities against trypanosoma brucei rhodes ... | 2002 | 12426089 |
| an atypical protein disulfide isomerase from the protozoan parasite leishmania containing a single thioredoxin-like domain. | in higher eukaryotes, secretory proteins are under the quality control of the endoplasmic reticulum for their proper folding and release into the secretory pathway. one of the proteins involved in the quality control is protein disulfide isomerase, which catalyzes the formation of protein disulfide bonds. as a first step toward understanding the endoplasmic reticulum quality control of secretory proteins in lower eukaryotes, we have isolated a protein disulfide isomerase gene from the protozoan ... | 2003 | 12427741 |
| nadh-oxidase, nadph-oxidase and myeloperoxidase activity of visceral leishmaniasis patients. | it is believed that the enhanced capability of activated macrophages to resist infection is related to the remarkable increase in the production of oxygen metabolites in response to phagocytosis. both the production of h2o2 and the oxidation of nad(p)h are directly dependent upon nad(p)h-oxidase. it has been established that the respiratory burst is due to activation of nad(p)h-oxidase localised in the plasmalemma. myeloperoxidase is believed to be involved in augmenting the cytotoxic activity o ... | 2002 | 12435061 |
| defective ccr7 expression on dendritic cells contributes to the development of visceral leishmaniasis. | interaction between dendritic cells (dcs) and t cells is essential for the generation of cell-mediated immunity. here we show that dcs from mice with chronic leishmania donovani infection fail to migrate from the marginal zone to the periarteriolar region of the spleen. stromal cells were fewer, which was associated with loss of ccl21 and ccl19 expression. the residual stromal cells and endothelium produced sufficient ccl21 to direct the migration of dcs transferred from naïve mice. however, dcs ... | 2002 | 12436111 |
| characterization of leishmania donovani antigens encapsulated in liposomes that induce protective immunity in balb/c mice. | leishmania donovani promastigote membrane antigens (lag) encapsulated in positively charged liposomes have been found to induce very significant levels of protection against experimental visceral leishmaniasis. the protectively immunized animals exhibited profound delayed-type hypersensitivity and antibody responses. the extent of protection induced by the same antigens, however, varied depending on the charge of the vesicles, with maximum induction by positively charged liposomes, followed by n ... | 2002 | 12438344 |
| leishmania donovani suppresses activated protein 1 and nf-kappab activation in host macrophages via ceramide generation: involvement of extracellular signal-regulated kinase. | in vitro infection of murine peritoneal macrophages with the protozoan leishmania donovani has been found to alter the signaling parameters of the host. the present study indicates that the enhancement of intracellular ceramide level in macrophages after infection is a major event relating to macrophage dysfunction. we have previously demonstrated that increased ceramide synthesis in host macrophages was involved in the dephosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (erk). in the pre ... | 2002 | 12438359 |
| saponins, il12 and bcg adjuvant in the fml-vaccine formulation against murine visceral leishmaniasis. | the fml antigen of leishmania donovani, in combination with either riedel de haën (r), quila, qs21 saponins, il12 or bcg, was used in vaccination of an outbred murine model against visceral leishmaniasis (vl). significant and specific increases in anti-fml igg and igm responses were detected for all adjuvants, and in anti-fml igg1, igg2a and igg2b and delayed type of hypersensitivity to l. donovani lysate (dth), only for all saponins and il12. the qs21-fml and quila-fml groups achieved the highe ... | 2002 | 12443660 |
| anilino-(2-bromophenyl) acetonitrile: a promising orally effective antileishmanial agent. | visceral leishmaniasis (vl) or kala-azar is a worldwide disseminated intracellular infection caused by the hemoflagellate protozoan parasites leishmania donovani. chemotherapeutic scenario presents a deplorable picture and demands an urgent search for a new and safe anti-vl drugs, preferably active by oral route. in search of new antileishmanial agents, a total of 16 compounds belonging to the anilino-(substituted phenyl)-acetonitrile class were tested in vitro in promastigote/macrophase-amastig ... | 2002 | 12443794 |
| a novel active dna topoisomerase i in leishmania donovani. | a common feature shared by type i dna topoisomerases is the presence of a "serine, lysine, x, x, tyrosine" motif as conventional enzyme active site. preliminary data have shown that leishmania donovani dna topoisomerase i gene (ldtop1a) lacked this conserved motif, giving rise to different theories about the reconstitution of an active dna topoisomerase i in this parasite. we, herein, describe the molecular cloning of a new dna topoisomerase i gene from l. donovani (ldtop1b) containing the highl ... | 2003 | 12444094 |
| the sensitivity and specificity of leishmania chagasi recombinant k39 antigen in the diagnosis of american visceral leishmaniasis and in differentiating active from subclinical infection. | the sensitivity and specificity of a leishmania chagasi recombinant k39 (rk39)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) for visceral leishmaniasis (vl) was assessed in natal, brazil. anti-rk39 antibodies were detected in 93.3% of patients with parasitologically confirmed vl (n = 120) and in 33 others with clinically diagnosed disease. anti-rk39 antibodies decreased significantly following treatment. the presence of antibodies was inversely correlated with development of a positive leishma ... | 2002 | 12452487 |
| abietane diterpenoids and triterpenoic acids from salvia cilicica and their antileishmanial activities. | bioguided-fractionation of an acetone extract of the roots of salvia cilicica (lamiaceae) led to isolation of two new diterpenes, 7-hydroxy-12-methoxy-20-nor-abieta-1,5(10),7,9,12-pentaen-6,14-dione and abieta-8,12-dien-11,14-dione (12-deoxy-royleanone), together with oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, ferruginol, inuroyoleanol and cryptanol. their structures were determined spectroscopically, which included hreims and 2d nmr spectroscopic analysis. the new abietane derivatives showed appreciable in ... | 2002 | 12453510 |
| oral miltefosine for indian visceral leishmaniasis. | there are 500,000 cases per year of visceral leishmaniasis, which occurs primarily in the indian subcontinent. almost all untreated patients die, and all the effective agents have been parenteral. miltefosine is an oral agent that has been shown in small numbers of patients to have a favorable therapeutic index for indian visceral leishmaniasis. we performed a clinical trial in india comparing miltefosine with the most effective standard treatment, amphotericin b. | 2002 | 12456849 |
| prostaglandin production from arachidonic acid and evidence for a 9,11-endoperoxide prostaglandin h2 reductase in leishmania. | lysates of leishmania promastigotes can metabolise arachidonic acid to prostaglandins. prostaglandin production was heat sensitive and not inhibited by aspirin or indomethacin. we cloned and sequenced the cdna of leishmania major, leishmania donovani, and leishmania tropica prostaglandin f(2alpha) synthase, and overexpressed their respective 34-kda recombinant proteins that catalyse the reduction of 9,11-endoperoxide pgh(2) to pgf(2alpha). database search and sequence alignment alignment showed ... | 2002 | 12464415 |
| evaluation of the direct agglutination test and the rk39 dipstick test for the sero-diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis. | the direct agglutination test (dat) based on a freeze-dried antigen and the rk39 dipstick test were evaluated for the sero-diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (vl). the sensitivity and specificity of both tests were determined using sera from confirmed vl patients (n = 21), healthy controls (n = 19) and from patients with other confirmed infectious diseases (n = 42). the dat had a sensitivity and a specificity of 100%. the rk39 had a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 82%. both tests were ... | 2002 | 12471430 |
| the interplay between environmental and host factors during an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis in eastern sudan. | parasitic diseases, including human visceral leishmaniasis, are multifactorial. factors that are expected to play an important role in the parasite-human interaction are exposure, parasite "virulence" and host resistance factors. in populations exposed to leishmania donovani most subjects do not allow the parasites to establish themselves or remain asymptomatic. some individuals, however, fail to control parasite expansion and dissemination and develop a visceral disease. we report here the resu ... | 2002 | 12475635 |
| inhibition of hsp90 in trypanosoma cruzi induces a stress response but no stage differentiation. | the 90-kda heat shock proteins (hsp90) are important in the regulation of numerous intracellular processes in eukaryotic cells. in particular, hsp90 has been shown to be involved in the control of the cellular differentiation of the protozoan parasite leishmania donovani. we investigated the role of hsp90 in the related parasite trypanosoma cruzi by inhibiting its function using geldanamycin (ga). ga induced a dose-dependent increase in heat shock protein levels and a dose-dependent arrest of pr ... | 2002 | 12477794 |
| difference in dna sequences in ssu rdna variable regions among pathogens isolated from different epidemic foci of visceral leishmaniasis in china. | to confirm the existence of point mutations in the ssu rdna variable regions of 5 leishmania donovani (l.d.) isolates from different epidemic foci in china. | 2002 | 12490086 |