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Quantification of Intracellular Growth Inside Macrophages is a Fast and Reliable Method for Assessing the Virulence of Leishmania Parasites
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Leishmania infantum: infection of macrophages in vitro with promastigotes

S Méndez1, M Nell, J M Alunda

  • 1Dpto de Patología Animal I, Fac. Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

International Journal for Parasitology
|June 1, 1996
PubMed

Insights

Leishmania infantum promastigotes showed low infectivity for macrophages. Pre-incubation of macrophages at 26°C significantly enhanced Leishmania infantum infection and amastigote survival.

Area of Science:

  • Parasitology
  • Cell Biology
  • Immunology

Background:

  • Leishmania infantum promastigotes have limited infectivity for macrophages in vitro under standard conditions.
  • Leishmania donovani promastigotes are more infective than L. infantum under similar conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate methods for enhancing L. infantum infectivity and amastigote survival in macrophages.
  • To explore the effect of pre-incubation temperature on macrophage infectivity.

Main Methods:

  • Culturing Leishmania infantum promastigotes in axenic culture.
  • Incubating mouse peritoneal macrophages (M phi) and J774.G8 cell line at 26°C for 48 hours prior to infection.
  • Assessing infectivity and amastigote survival under standard culture conditions (37°C).

Main Results:

  • Standard culture conditions showed limited infectivity of L. infantum for M phi.
  • Addition of fresh homologous serum enhanced L. infantum promastigote infectivity but not amastigote development.
  • Pre-incubation of M phi at 26°C for 48 hours resulted in prolonged infections and survival of intracellular amastigotes.
  • Enhanced infectivity was observed across multiple L. infantum strains following the thermal shift.

Conclusions:

  • Transient thermal pre-incubation of macrophages at 26°C is an effective method to enhance L. infantum infectivity.
  • This method facilitates the transformation and survival of intracellular amastigotes, crucial for studying Leishmania pathogenesis.
  • The findings offer a valuable approach for in vitro studies of Leishmania-macrophage interactions.

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