Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an infectious-parasitic disease that is vector-transmitted by female Phlebotomus species through a blood meal. The drugs recommended by the Ministry of Health show moderate efficacy and numerous adverse reactions, making it necessary to develop new drugs. However, it is essential to establish new and vibrant diagnostic techniques detecting and quantifying the parasites in experimental animals in the pre-clinical phase. Therefore, the aim of this project was to evaluate clinical and parasitological aspects in Mesocricetus auratus infected with Leishmania  amazonensis, thus making it possible to compare the diagnostic methods used in in-vivo trials for new therapeutic agents for cutaneous leishmaniasis. L. amazonensis promastigotes were inoculated into 12 adult hamsters. The trial was divided into two groups, one treated with Glucantime® and the other untreated. During treatment, the animals were monitored clinically and the lesion area was measured. After the 40th day, the animals were euthanized to obtain fragments of the lesions for parasitological, histopathological, and molecular analysis. The GLUC group had nodular lesions, while the CONT- group had ulcerated lesions with a 445.9% increase in volume. The parasitological and histopathological analyses corroborated the results obtained from real-time PCR, showing a lower parasite load, mild dermatitis and a significant reduction in the concentration of parasite DNA compared to CONT-group. The study confirms that clinical assessment and application of parasitological, histopathological, and molecular diagnostic techniques are essential in determining the clinical and parasite profile more accurately in experimental animals used for pre-clinical which can be used to test and recommend new therapeutic drugs for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Key words: Cutaneous leishmaniasis, mesocricetus auratus, Glucantime®, Leishmania amazonensis, diagnostic tests.