Leishmania Mexicana: Uptake of Sodium Stibogluconate (Pentostam) and Pentamidine by Parasite and Macrophages

Pentavalent antimonials in the form of sodium stibogluconate Pentostam or meglumine antimonate Glucantime are the primary therapeutic agents for leighmaniasis. Pentamidine is clinically effective but has been relegated to the status of a secondary agent because of toxicity. However, pentamidine is a widely employed antimicrobial because it is also efficacious in Pneumocystis carinii infections and in African trypanosomiasis. There are two stages of Leishmania spp. the mammalian form amastigote which is an obligate intramacrophage microorganism and the insect vector form promastigote. Both Pentostam and pentamidine are more active against intramacrophage amastigotes than extracellular promastigotes Berman et al. 1980, and the fact that both drugs are clinical agents indicates that in general both drugs are more active against amastigotes than mammalian cells. Keywords Macrophages, Parasites, Antiparasitic drugs, Immunochemistry, Chemotherapy, Physiological effects, Biochemistry, Reprints.