Abstract
Spirogermanium is an antineoplastic agent that has been shown to be useful for the treatment of a variety of solid tumors and Plasmodium falciparum infection. We found that this agent, at concentrations of 1-10 μg/ml, markedly inhibited the growth of epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. This inhibition of growth was seen in liver infusion tryptose cultures as well as on agar where colonial growth was inhibited markedly. Ultrastructural studies demonstrated that affected organisms were round and swollen and contained vacuoles, lamellar structures, and multivesicular bodies. Spirogermanium also significantly decreased the growth of intracellular amastigotes in myotubes. Pretreatment of myotubes with the agent protected them from infection with trypomastigotes but tachyzoites of Toxoplasma sp. readily infected pretreated cells. These data suggest that spirogermanium may be useful as a chemotherapeutic agent against T. cruzi.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 57-63 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Experimental Parasitology |
Volume | 64 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 1987 |
Keywords
- Chemotherapeutic agent
- Chemotherapy
- Hemoflagellate
- Muscle cells
- Protozoa, parasitic
- Spirogermanium hydrochloride
- Trypanosoma cruzi
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Parasitology
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases