The protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania are the causative agents of different clinical diseases. Fetal calf serum (FCS) is the main part and the most expensive ingredient of the Leishmania culture media. Here, the efficacies of different concentrations (1%, 2.5%, 5%, and 10%) of the filtered and autoclaved sheep and mouse urine were evaluated as a growth stimulator in Leishmania culture...

We present a new polymerase chain reaction assay based on telomeric sequences of Leishmania donovani. When this assay was used in dilutions of purified L. donovani DNA, a strong amplification signal was observed with 1 fg of DNA. In a specificity test that used purified DNA from Old World and New World Leishmania, the assay recognized all parasites isolated from patients with visceral leishmani...

The complicated interactions between Leishmania and the host antigen-presenting cells (APCs) have fundamental effects on the final outcome of the disease. Two major APCs, macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs), play critical roles in mediating resistance and susceptibility during Leishmania infection. Macrophages are the primary resident cell for Leishmania: they phagocytose and permit parasite ...

Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease that affects 12 million people worldwide. The first line choice for the treatment of this disease is antimonial drugs. In the endemic regions, resistance to this class of drugs is a major impediment to treatment. Microbes often become resistant to drugs by mutation or down-regulation of uptake systems, but the uptake system for the antimonial drugs...

Leishmaniasis is an important parasitic disease found in the tropics and subtropics. Cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis affect an estimated 1.5 million people worldwide. Despite its human health relevance, relatively little is known about the cell death pathways that control Leishmania replication in the host. Necroptosis is a recently identified form of cell death with potent antiviral effec...

produced in man by inoculation of cultures of Leishmania tropica. Cutaneous inoculation of Leishmania donovani from spleen puncture material from a case of kala-azar, however, is reported to have ' apparently produced kala-azar in a man' but on two occasions accidental inoculation of spleen puncture material from cases of kala-azar was without any effect (Napier, 1927). Recently, Terry et al. (...

DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied in the investigation of the presence of Leishmania (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) parasites in single phlebotomine sandflies. Three phlebotomine/parasite pairs were used: Lutzomyia longipalpis/Leishmania chagasi, Lutzomyia migonei/Leishmania amazonensis and Lutzomyia migonei/Leishmania braziliensis, all of them incriminate...

The gene encoding gp63, the major surface glycoprotein of Leishmania promastigotes, was isolated from Leishmania major using a synthetic oligonucleotide probe based on the NH2-terminal protein sequence of purified gp63. DNA sequence analysis and the translated amino acid sequence indicate that gp63 is synthesized as precursor molecule having both an NH2-terminal preregion (signal peptide) and a...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the mode of action of monastrol in intracellular Leishmania. METHODS Microarray experiments were conducted on an Affymetrix GeneChip(®) Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array, to determine the genes that encode proteins related to pathological alterations of cell signalling pathways in intracellular Leishmania amastigotes in response to monastrol treatment. RESULTS Monas...

leishmaniasis is a disease caused by a malaria-like parasite called leishmania in human and some species of animals. detection of leishmaniasis has always been crucial for control and treatment of the disease. different strategies have been approached for detection of leishmania. in this review methods used for detection of leishmania infection have been discussed and compared.