Role of mannose/N-acetylglucosamine receptors in blood clearance and cellular attachment of Leishmania donovani.

The effects of glycoproteins and neoglycoproteins specific for liver and macrophage membrane lectins on both the cellular attachment and the clearance of Leishmania donovani from hamster blood were investigated. Although the inhibition pattern of in vitro cellular attachment studies indicates the involvement of both galactose and mannose/N-acetylglucosamine receptors, the in vivo blood clearance of the parasites was inhibited only by glycoproteins and neoglycoproteins specific for mannose/N-acetylglucosamine receptors. The inhibitory effects on blood clearance were abolished by pretreating the parasites with tunicamycin, an inhibitor of protein glycosylation. These results indicate that the mannose/N-acetylglucosamine hepatic lectin recognizes specific sugars on the parasite surface and is important to the promastigote during the early stages of infection.