AJTMH Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 18(4), 1969, pp. 506-510
Copyright © 1969 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Gold Sodium Thiomalate* in Visceral Leishmaniasis

Anti-Leishmanial Activity in Hamsters,{dagger}

John L. Abruzzo AND Ralph J. DeHoratius
Department of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College, 1025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107

A study was undertaken to determine if gold sodium thiomalate had antileishmanial activity. Thirty hamsters were infected with Leishmania donovani obtained from the spleen of an infected hamster, and one-half were treated with gold sodium thiomalate by weekly intramuscular injection. Both groups were observed for as long as 106 days, and parasitosis was estimated from imprint smears obtained by biopsy on the 12th and 43rd day after infection and at autopsy. Gold treatment resulted in complete suppression of growth of parasites in 13 of 15 hamsters and was in sharp contrast to the untreated group, in which all animals became moribund with extreme parasitosis and were killed before the 106th day. Histologic examination at autopsy revealed amyloidosis in both groups but significantly less in the gold-treated group. The effect of gold sodium thiomalate on leishmanial growth in culture was also measured and compared with control cultures. The results indicated a suppression of growth of Leishman-Donovan bodies in the cultures containing gold sodium thiomalate. It is concluded that gold sodium thiomalate has anti-leishmanial properties. This was demonstrated by the inhibition of growth of Leishman-Donovan bodies in vivo in hamsters, and in vitro.


* Myochrysine,® manufactured by Merck, Sharp and Dohme.


{dagger} This investigation was supported by United States Public Health Service Research Grant AM-11689.






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Copyright © 1969 by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.