The change of behavior of two strains of Leishmania after cultivation in a defined medium

Abstract

Attempts have been made to characterize two strains of Leishmania that became infective to golden hamsters only after they had been maintained for several years in a chemically defined culture medium. Observations were made on the growth rates of promastigotes in vitro, course of infection in hamsters, morphology of amastigotes, and electrophoretic mobility patterns of eight isoenzymes. Information was obtained about the buoyant densities of n-DNA and k-DNA, and one strain was tested against monoclonal antibodies. The identity of both strains remains obscure.

Leishmania spp. parasite isolation through inoculation of patient biopsy macerates in interferon gamma knockout mice

“…We inoculated only one mouse (two paws) per biopsy macerate. It was reported that for less virulent strains of Leishmania, inoculation in hamsters fails to infect all animals of a group 16 …”

Experiences with vaccines against cutaneous leishmaniasis: of men and mice

“…The stability of the parasite must be assured in any vaccine development strategy. Changes of the characteristics of the parasites in culture have been re-examined elegantly for many Leishmania species in recent years (Giannini, 1974;Keithly & Bienen, 1981;Sacks & Perkins, 1984;Franke, McGreevy, Katz & Sacks, 1985;Wozencraft & Blackwell, 1987;Melo, Williams, Magalhaes-Rocha, Baba, Mayrink, Michalick, Da Costa, Diaz & Magalhaes, 1987;Turco, Hull, Orlandi, Sheperd, Homans, Dweck & Rademacher, 1987;Howard, Sayers & Miles, 1987;Celeste & Guimaraes, 1988), and inhibition of one species by another in a mixed culture has also been seen (Pacheco, Grimaldi & Morel, 1987).…”