Tissue/Biofluid Specific Molecular Cartography of Leishmania donovani Infected BALB/c Mice: Deciphering Systemic Reprogramming

Curcumin-loaded nanostructured systems for treatment of leishmaniasis: a review

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease that has affected more than 350 million people worldwide and can manifest itself in three different forms: cutaneous, mucocutaneous, or visceral. Furthermore, the current treatment options have drawbacks which compromise efficacy and patient compliance. To face this global health concern, new alternatives for the treatment of leishmaniasis have been explored. Curcumin, a polyphenol obtained from the rhizome of turmeric, exhibits leishmanicidal activity against different species of Leishmania spp. Although its mechanism of action has not yet been fully elucidated, its leishmanicidal potential may be associated with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, it has limitations that compromise its clinical use. Conversely, nanotechnology has been used as a tool for solving biopharmaceutical challenges associated with drugs, such as curcumin. From a drug delivery standpoint, nanocarriers (1-1000 nm) can improve stability, increase solubility, promote intracellular delivery, and increase biological activity. Thus, this review offers a deep look into curcumin-loaded nanocarriers intended for the treatment of leishmaniasis.

Metabolomics analysis of visceral leishmaniasis based on urine of golden hamsters

BACKGROUND

Leishmaniasis is one of the most neglected tropical diseases and is spread mainly in impoverished regions of the world. Although many studies have focused on the host's response to Leishmania invasion, relatively less is known about the complex processes at the metabolic level, especially the metabolic alterations in the infected hosts.

METHODS

In this study, we conducted metabolomics analysis on the urine of golden hamsters in the presence or absence of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) using the ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) system tandem high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS). The metabolic characteristics of urine samples, along with the histopathological change and the parasite burden of liver and spleen tissues, were detected at 4 and 12 weeks post infection (WPI), respectively.

RESULTS

Amino acid metabolism was extensively affected at both stages of VL progression. Meanwhile, there were also distinct metabolic features at different stages. At 4 WPI, the significantly affected metabolic pathways involved alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), histidine metabolism, tryptophan metabolism and tyrosine metabolism. At 12 WPI, the markedly enriched metabolic pathways were almost concentrated on amino acid metabolism, including tyrosine metabolism, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism and tryptophan metabolism. The dysregulated metabolites and metabolic pathways at 12 WPI were obviously less than those at 4 WPI. In addition, seven metabolites that were dysregulated at both stages through partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) tests were screened to be of diagnostic potential. The combination of these metabolites as a potential biomarker panel showed satisfactory performance in distinguishing infection groups from control groups as well as among different stages of infection.

CONCLUSION

Our findings could provide valuable information for further understanding of the host response to Leishmania infection from the aspect of the urine metabolome. The proposed urine biomarker panel could help in the development of a novel approach for the diagnosis and prognosis of VL.

Taurine metabolism is modulated in Vibrio-infected Penaeus vannamei to shape shrimp antibacterial response and survival

BACKGROUND

Numerous microorganisms are found in aquaculture ponds, including several pathogenic bacteria. Infection of cultured animals by these pathogens results in diseases and metabolic dysregulation. However, changes in the metabolic profiles that occur at different infection stages in the same ponds and how these metabolic changes can be modulated by exogenous metabolites in Penaeus vannamei remain unknown.

RESULTS

Here, we collected gastrointestinal tract (GIT) samples from healthy, diseased, and moribund P. vannamei in the same aquaculture pond for histological, metabolic, and transcriptome profiling. We found that diseased and moribund shrimp with empty GITs and atrophied hepatopancreas were mainly infected with Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio harveyi. Although significant dysregulation of crucial metabolites and their enzymes were observed in diseased and moribund shrimps, diseased shrimp expressed high levels of taurine and taurine metabolism-related enzymes, while moribund shrimp expressed high levels of hypoxanthine and related metabolism enzymes. Moreover, a strong negative correlation was observed between taurine levels and the relative abundance of V. parahaemolyticus and V. harveyi. Besides, exogenous taurine enhanced shrimp survival against V. parahaemolyticus challenge by increasing the expression of key taurine metabolism enzymes, mainly, cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) and cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase (CSD).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study revealed that taurine metabolism could be modulated by exogenous supplementation to improve crustacean immune response against pathogenic microbes. Video Abstract.

Impact of Visceral Leishmaniasis on Local Organ Metabolism in Hamsters

Leishmania is an intracellular parasite with different species pathogenic to humans and causing the disease leishmaniasis. Leishmania donovani causes visceral leishmaniasis (VL) that manifests as hepatosplenomegaly, fever, pancytopenia and hypergammaglobulinemia. If left without treatment, VL can cause death, especially in immunocompromised people. Current treatments have often significant adverse effects, and resistance has been reported in some countries. Determining the metabolites perturbed during VL can lead us to find new treatments targeting disease pathogenesis. We therefore compared metabolic perturbation between L. donovani-infected and uninfected hamsters across organs (spleen, liver, and gut). Metabolites were extracted, analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and processed with MZmine and molecular networking to annotate metabolites. We found few metabolites commonly impacted by infection across all three sites, including glycerophospholipids, ceramides, acylcarnitines, peptides, purines and amino acids. In accordance with VL symptoms and parasite tropism, we found a greater overlap of perturbed metabolites between spleen and liver compared to spleen and gut, or liver and gut. Targeting pathways related to these metabolite families would be the next focus that can lead us to find more effective treatments for VL.