title: Leishmania donovani in hamsters: stimulation of non-specific resistance by some novel glycopeptides and impact on therapeutic efficacy.
abstract: Several glycopeptides structurally related to muramyl dipeptide (MDP) have been synthesized and evaluated for their ability to stimulate the non-specific resistance of hamsters against L. donovani infection. These compounds have been named CDRI compounds. The synthetic procedure used for compounds 86/448 and 84/212 is described. MDP and its synthetic congeners were administered as immunostimulants at a prophylactic dose of 3 mg/kg at two weeks interval. The challenge infection (1 x 10(7) amastigotes i.c./hamster) was given in between two doses of the compounds. One of the glycopeptides, CDRI comp. 86/448, has been found to be significantly more potent than MDP, effecting 92% inhibition of the challenge dose, whereas MDP produced only 26.5% inhibition. The effect of comp. 86/448 lasted until day 7 of challenge. The efficacy of sodium stibogluconate was appreciably improved in hamsters treated with comp. 86/448.
authors.affiliation: Division of Parasitology, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.lastname: Anuradha
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Rizvi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kundu
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Katiyar
mesh_terms: D000119:Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D006224:Cricetinae; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000187:drug effects; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000187:drug effects*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D000119:Acetylmuramyl-Alanyl-Isoglutamine