J Med Microbiol 58 (2009), 1298-1302; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.011155-0
© 2009 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 0022-2615
N-Chlorotaurine shows high in vitro activity against promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania species
Ursula Fürnkranz1,
Markus Nagl2,
Waldemar Gottardi2,
Ulrich Matt3,4,
Horst Aspöck1 and
Julia Walochnik1
1 Department of Medical Parasitology, Clinical Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1095 Vienna, Austria
2 Department of Hygiene, Microbiology and Social Medicine, Division of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Fritz-Pregl-Strasse 3, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
3 Department of Medicine I, Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
4 Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (CeMM), Vienna, Austria
Correspondence
Julia Walochnik
julia.walochnik{at}meduniwien.ac.at
Received March 16, 2009
Accepted June 16, 2009
Protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania are the causative agents of life-threatening visceral as well as cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. First-line drugs are antimonials, but toxicity and resistance in some endemic areas cause serious problems. In the current study, the antileishmanial activity of the weak oxidant N-chlorotaurine (NCT) was investigated. NCT is a derivative of the amino acid taurine produced by granulocytes and monocytes during oxidative burst, but can also be synthesized chemically and used topically as an antiseptic at a concentration of 1 % (55 mM) in vivo. NCT susceptibility tests were performed in vitro with promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania infantum and Leishmania donovani. As NH4Cl is known to increase the activity of NCT by the formation of monochloramine (NH2Cl), co-treatment assays were included in the study. Mean EC50 values after 1 h of treatment were 5.94 mM for L. infantum and 9.8 mM for L. donovani promastigotes. Co-treatment with 5.5 mM NCT plus 19 mM NH4Cl led to complete killing of promastigotes of both strains within 15 min. Amastigotes were inactivated by treatment with 2 mM NCT alone. The results of this study indicate a high potential of NCT against Leishmania species.
Copyright © 2009 Society for General Microbiology.