AgNP-PVP-meglumine antimoniate nanocomposite reduces Leishmania amazonensis infection in macrophages

• Autor(a) principal: Gélvez, Ana Patricia Cacua
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Diniz Junior, José Antônio Picanço, Santa Brígida, Thereza Silva, Rodrigues, Ana Paula Drummond
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Digital do Instituto Evandro Chagas (Patuá)
• Texto Completo: https://patua.iec.gov.br/handle/iec/4388
• topic: Leishmaniose / patologia; Nanopartículas; Síndrome de Ativação Macrofágica; Citocinas; Vacinas contra Leishmaniose / uso terapêutico

Background: Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania and presents different clinical manifestations. The adverse effects, immunosuppression and resistant strains associated with this disease necessitate the development of new drugs. Nanoparticles have shown potential as alternative antileishmanial drugs. We showed in a previous study the biosynthesis, characterization and ideal concentration of a nanocomposite that promoted leishmanicidal activity. In the present study, we conducted a specific analysis to show the mechanism of action of AgNP-PVP-MA (silver nanoparticle-polyvinylpyrrolidone-[meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime (R))]) nanocomposite during Leishmania amazonensis infection in vitro. Results: Through ultrastructural analysis, we observed significant alterations, such as the presence of small vesicles in the flagellar pocket and in the extracellular membrane, myelin-like structure formation in the Golgi complex and mitochondria, flagellum and plasma membrane rupture, and electrodense material deposition at the edges of the parasite nucleus in both evolutive forms. Furthermore, the Leishmania parasite infection index in macrophages decreased significantly after treatment, and nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species production levels were determined. Additionally, inflammatory, and pro-inflammatory cytokine and chemokine production levels were evaluated. The IL-4, TNF-alpha and MIP-1 alpha levels increased significantly, while the IL-17 A level decreased significantly after treatment. Conclusions: Thus, we demonstrate in this study that the AgNP-PVP-MA nanocomposite has leishmanial potential, and the mechanism of action was demonstrated for the first time, showing that this bioproduct seems to be a potential alternative treatment for leishmaniasis.