BACKGROUND

The current study aimed to investigate the possible cross-protective effects of attenuated against in BALB/c mice.

METHODS

This experimental study was performed in 2017 in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. The attenuated strain of was prepared by continuous weekly subculturing of the parasite. Forty-eight female BALB/c mice were divided into eight groups. Group 1 injected (ID) with wild type of ; group 2 injected (IV) with ; group 3 injected (ID) with attenuated ; group 4 injected (ID) with attenuated , and after three weeks challenged (IV) with ; group 5 injected (IP) with attenuated ; group 6 injected (IP) with attenuated , and challenged (IV) with (IV); group 7 injected (IV) with attenuated ; and finally group 8 injected (IV) with attenuated and after three weeks challenged (IV) with . Forty-five days post-infection, the parasite load in the spleen and liver of the mice was determined as Leishman-Donovan units (LDU).

RESULTS

The differences in mean of LDU of spleen between different groups were statistically significant (<0.048). In addition, the differences in percent of infection in liver between pairwise comparisons of groups were statistically significant (0.05). The highest intensity of infection was observed in group 2 while low intensity of infection was seen in groups 3, 4 and 5.

CONCLUSION

Live attenuated can induce substantial protection against particularly when the parasites were injected intravenously.