Trop Med Infect Dis
September 2024
Leishmaniasis is a complex disease caused by different species of . To date, no vaccine for humans or ideal therapy has been developed owing to the limited efficacy and toxicity of available drugs, as well as the emergence of resistant strains. Therefore, it is necessary to identify novel therapeutic targets and discover therapeutic options for leishmaniasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe main challenges associated with leishmaniasis chemotherapy are drug toxicity, the possible emergence of resistant parasites, and a limited choice of therapeutic agents. Therefore, new drugs and assays to screen and detect novel active compounds against leishmaniasis are urgently needed. We thus validated (Lb) and (Li) that constitutively express the tandem tomato red fluorescent protein () as a model for large-scale screens of anti- compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotochem Photobiol
May 2024
Natural products derived from plants can be used as photosensitizers for antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) combining key therapeutic strategies for tissue repair while controlling microorganisms' growth. We investigated a standardized extract of pequi peels (Caryocar brasiliense Cambess) as a brownish natural photosensitizer for aPDT using blue light. Three concentrations of the pequi extract (PE; 10, 30, or 90 μg/mL) were tested solely or associated with blue laser (445 nm, 100 mW, 138 J/cm, 6 J, 60 s).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChagas disease is an illness caused by the protozoan parasite . Only two drugs are available, with the drawback of low rate of cure in the chronic phase of the disease and undesirable side effects. These facts highlight the need to find new compounds for Chagas disease chemotherapy.
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