In vitro growth kinetics, differentiation and morphological characterisation of Tunisian Leishmania infantum parasites.

In this study, a negative peanut agglutinin (PNA) selection was used as a marker for promastigote differentiation to compare the in vitro growth and differentiation kinetics of two visceral and two cutaneous Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum parasites. All parasites had different growth and differentiation kinetics. Cultures initiated with PNA(+) parasites purified during the early stationary phase (Day 4), when PNA(-) (non-agglutinating) parasites peaked, yielded a high PNA(-) percent.

[Differentiation among cutaneous Leishmania species upon amplification of a sequence of dipeptidyl peptidase III encoding gene].

Leishmaniasis are a group of vector-born, parasitic diseases caused by protozoan of the Leishmania genus, that includes visceral or cutaneous forms. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) refers to a group of diseases because of the variability of clinical manifestations, caused by a large number of Leishmania species. In Tunisia, three different forms of CL are encountered, having different causal agents L.

[A variant of DDRT-PCR using anchored mini-exon primers for identification of differentially expressed sequences in Leishmania infantum].

Leishmania infantum (L.i) is responsible for visceral (VL) or cutaneous (CL) leishmaniasis. Previous studies done in Honduras by differential display reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR) failed to demonstrate differences in expression profiles among L.