title: Control of Leishmania mexicana proliferation by modulation of polyamine intracellular levels.
abstract: Repeated treatments of Leishmania mexicana promastigote cultures with a-difluoromethylornithine could not block proliferation when the parasite was grown in a rich medium. Although the irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase was able to abolish the enzymatic activity under these conditions, polyamine depletion was only partial probably due to the uptake of these substances from the external medium. Conversely, when Leishmania was cultivated in a defined medium essentially free of polyamines, a-difluoromethylornithine was able to decrease the growth rate and proliferation was arrested after several passages in the presence of the drug. Parasite multiplication could be resumed by addition of exogenous polyamines, and a strict correlation between Leishmania promastigote growth and intracellular levels of spermidine was observed.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas, Fundación Campomar, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sferco
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Algranati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000518:Eflornithine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007700:Kinetics; D007894:Leishmania mexicana / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D011073:Polyamines / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D011073:Polyamines; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase; D000518:Eflornithine