Abstract
Parasites from the genus Leishmania cause a variety of disease states in humans and other mammals in tropical and subtropical regions, which include cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. The elaboration of a culture medium for the in vitro cultivation of Leishmania spp., which promotes the growth and differentiation of the parasites, is an important tool for diagnosis, biochemical, biological and immunological studies in the genus. Herein, we have reported the development of a rapid, inexpensive and reliable monophasic culture medium. The novel medium, designated PBHIL, promoted an excellent parasite growth, generating high quantities of promastigotes with long-term viability, and was able to induce cellular differentiation of L. amazonensis promastigotes to the amastigote-like forms (93%). Additionally, we reported the influence of this novel medium on the biochemical characteristics of L. amazonensis and on the interaction of this parasite parasites with mammalian macrophages.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by grants from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). The authors also wish thank to Dr. Elvira Saraiva (Departamento de Imunologia, IMPPG-UFRJ) who kindly provided the anti-3A1-La antibody.
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1894-y
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Rodrigues, I.A., Silva, B.A., Santos, A.L.S. et al. A new experimental culture medium for cultivation of Leishmania amazonensis: its efficacy for the continuous in vitro growth and differentiation of infective promastigote forms. Parasitol Res 106, 1249–1252 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1775-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-010-1775-4