Publications by authors named "Rodrigo Belmont-Firpo"
We have characterized a phosphatase activity present on the external surface of Leishmania amazonensis, using intact living parasites. This enzyme hydrolyzes the substrate p-nitrophenylphosphate (p-NPP) at the rate of 25.70+/-1.
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- The study investigates the capacity of live Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes to break down extracellular ATP, revealing low initial hydrolysis rates without divalent metals.
- The addition of MgCl2 significantly enhances ATP hydrolysis, indicating that this process is magnesium-dependent and shows a dose-response relationship, while MnCl2 also stimulates activity but other metals do not.
- An analysis using specific inhibitors confirmed this activity as ecto-ATPase, revealing that infective forms of the parasite are more effective at hydrolyzing ATP compared to the noninfective epimastigotes.