%0 Journal Article
%T Biochemical association between essential trace elements and susceptibility to Leishmania major in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice
%A Amini
%A Marzyeh
%A Nahrevanian
%A Hossein
%A Khatami
%A Shohreh
%A Farahmand
%A Mahin
%A Mirkhani
%A Fatemeh
%A Javadian
%A Seifoddin
%J Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases
%D 2009
%I Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases
%R 10.1590/S1413-86702009000200002
%X several enzymes that contribute to immune system responses require zinc and copper as trace elements for their activity. we examined zinc and copper levels in two susceptible balb/c mouse lines and resistant c57bl/6 mice infected with leishmania major mrho/ir/75/er, a prevalent strain that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis in iran. serum zn and cu were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. higher cu levels were found in infected c57bl/6 mice and higher zn levels were found in infected balb/c mice. also, cu/zn ratios were increased in both the balb/c and the c57bl/6 mice. we conclude that concentrations of essential trace elements vary during cutaneous leishmaniasis infection and that this variation is associated with susceptibility/resistance to leishmania major in balb/c and c57bl/6 mice. we detected zn deficiency in the plasma of infected balb/c mice; possibly, therapeutic administration of zn would be useful for treating this form of leishmaniasis. increases in cu level might increase resistance to leishmaniasis. based on our findings, the cu/zn ratio could be a useful marker for the pathophysiology of leishmaniasis.
%K balb/c
%K c57bl/6
%K cl
%K iran
%K leishmania major
%K treatment
%K cu
%K zn.
%U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1413-86702009000200002&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en