title: Leishmania strains causing self-healing cutaneous leishmaniasis have greater susceptibility towards oxidative stress.
abstract: The survival of Leishmania parasites within macrophages is influenced by generation of free radicals. To establish whether generation of free radicals influenced chemotherapeutic response, promastigotes from isolates causing self-healing or delayed/non-self-healing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) or visceral leishmaniasis (VL) were evaluated for their susceptibility to nitric oxide (NO), antimony and miltefosine. In a self-healing CL strain of Leishmania major (5ASKH), susceptibility to NO and antimony was higher than other species. Likewise, a Leishmania amazonensis strain, M2269, showed greater susceptibility to NO and antimony than other species but no such correlation was observed with miltefosine. Additionally, 5ASKH and M2269 showed poorer free radical scavenging capacity as also their thiol levels were lower than species causing VL. Collectively, our study suggests that self-healing isolates tend to be more susceptible to oxidative stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Avijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: Susmita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Sourav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pakrashi
authors.forename: Debasree
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Sangita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.forename: Mitali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
mesh_terms: D000965:Antimony / Q000494:pharmacology; D005609:Free Radicals / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000469:parasitology*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000469:parasitology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000469:parasitology; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D010767:Phosphorylcholine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005609:Free Radicals; D010767:Phosphorylcholine; D009569:Nitric Oxide; C039128:miltefosine; D000965:Antimony; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase