A study of cutaneous lesions caused by Leishmania mexicana in plasminogen-deficient mice

Jesús Maldonado, Calcagno Marina, Juan Puig, Zulay Maizo, Luisana Avilan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The role of plasminogen, the zymogenic form of the serine protease plasmin, was investigated in the infection of Leishmania mexicana in plasminogen-deficient (plg-/- )and Plg wild-type (plg+/+) mice. Differences in the lesion size were observed between male plg+/+ and plg-/- mice. However, these differences were not observed in female mice. In both genders, examination of the lesion tissues at 8 weeks post-infection showed differences in the immunoreactivity pattern with anti-Leishmania antibodies. The parasites were limited to isolated foci in the plg-/- mice lesion, in contrast to the scattered pattern observed in plg+/+ mice. These results support the hypothesis that the interaction of the parasite with the host plasminogen-plasmin system might contribute to the virulence of L. mexicana.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)289-294
Number of pages6
JournalExperimental and Molecular Pathology
Volume80
Issue number3
Early online date2 Aug 2005
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2006

Keywords

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Host-Parasite Interactions/physiology
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Leishmania mexicana/immunology
  • Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous/immunology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Plasminogen/deficiency
  • Sex Factors

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