In vitro susceptibility of Leishmania donovani promastigotes to some antimicrobials compared with meglumine antimoniate.

Abstract

This experimental study was designed to evaluate the effectivness of some antimicrobial agents against Leishmania donovani promastigotes (LDP) in vitro. It was performed in College of Medicine in Kufa University during october and november 2008. It included treatment of LDP, cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) medium enriched with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) for 14 days, with azithromycin (6, 12, and 18 μg /ml), trimethoprimsulfamethoxasol (0.5-9.5 μg/ml), norfloxacin (1 μg /ml ) and meglomin antimoniate (20 μg/ml).The control group contained no antimicrobial with the LDP. Samples were grouped so that each group (20 samples) treated under standardized conditions with one drug (except the control group) in certain concentration that is within its minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). Promastigotes were counted during the log phase of the growth curve (at day 8). They were subdivided into motile, sluggish and immotile during the counting process and data from the drug-treated groups were compared with that of the control group. The results showed that mean count of motile LDP at day 8 of cultivation in the control group was ( 129.2×104 )LDP/ml, while mean counts of motile LDP in the treated groups were as follows: (20.4×104, 9.2×104, 5.6×104) LDP/ml for azithromycin group, ( 10.64×104 ) LDP/ml for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxasol group, (1.6 ×104) LDP/ml for norfloxacin group and (4×104) LDP/ml for meglomin antimoniate group. There was a significant reduction in motile LDP count in all treated groups compared to the control group (p <0.05), though it is insignificant in comparison to meglumine group (p >0.05). According to these data, it is clear that these antimicrobials may be effective enough as an experimental trial on infected mice then to be used in vivo as antileishmanial agents in the future.