Inhibition of glutathione synthesis as a chemotherapeutic strategy for leishmaniasis.

This study focuses on the use of buthioinine sulphoximine (BSO), a gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase inhibitor, oil Leishmania donovani growth. The effect of BSO on amastigote multiplication within macrophages showed that 5 mM BSO decreased infectivity by about 50% and the mean number of amastigotes per 100 infected macrophages by 21%. The mechanism may be that BSO resulted in enhanced nitric oxide (NO] levels within macrophages, probably due to inhibition of GSH content since GSH (10 mM) given after BSO treatment led to a decrease in NO compared to macrophages treated with BSO alone which were preexposed to thr Leishmania surface molecule lipophosphoglycan.