ISSN:
1432-1955
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract Chronic infections ofTrypanosoma brucei GVR 35/2 in mice, normally relapse after conventional chemotherapy because infective trypanosomes in the brain escape the action of the drug and are able to multiply and eventually re-establish a parasitaemia. However, if treatment consists of a single dose of 1×20 mg/kg suramin followed 3 or 4 days later by a 2-substituted 5-nitroimidazole, given intraperitoneally, either as a single dose or as a course of daily injections, relapses rarely occur and the majority of the mice are permanently cured. The minimum effective levels for the three 5-nitroimidazole compounds (Merck Sharp and Dohme, Rahway, NJ, USA) were two doses of 10 mg/kg of L611,744; four doses of 10 mg/kg of MK 436; and three doses of 10 mg/kg of L634,549. Generally it was more effective to divide a given total dose into two or more daily doses, rather than to give the 5-nitroimidazole as a single treatment. The effective dose levels are low enough to be of practical significance and, if the 5-nitroimidazoles were ever licensed for humans, might well prove to be an alternative to melarsoprol treatment for the elimination of trypanosomes from the central nervous system.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00927120
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