An experimental model system for leishmaniasis. An ultrastructural study on cultured macrophages exposed to Leishmania parasites and sodium stibogluconate.

To facilitate studies on the effect of chemotherapeutic agents on the host-parasite interaction in leishmaniasis, we have developed an experimental model for infecting mouse peritoneal macrophages in culture with recently-isolated Leishmania donovani promastigotes. As the drug action is often dependent on concentration, the distribution of sodium stibogluconate, which is the commonly used drug for treatment of leishmaniasis, was studied in various parts of the macrophages by energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis. The drug was found to accumulate in secondary lysosomes. The ultrastructural examination, using TEM and SEM, of macrophages, whose secondary lysosomes had been preloaded with gold particles, showed that leishmania parasites are phagocytosed and finally located in secondary lysosomes. Using flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry, the concentration of Mn, Fe and Cu in promastigotes of Leishmania donovani, Leishmania aethiopica, Leishmania crithidia, Leishmania major and their culture media was estimated. Of the three transition metals, the parasites accumulated only Mn from the medium, which they may use in a primitive defense mechanism against reactive oxygen metabolites produced by macrophages during the respiratory burst associated with phagocytosis.