The proliferation potential of promastigotes of the main Leishmania species of the old world in NNN culture medium prepared using blood of four different mammals

• Published in: Experimental parasitology 2015-10, Vol.157, p.124-127
• Main Authors: Ladopoulos, Theodoros, Ntais, Pantelis, Tsirigotakis, Nikolaos, Dokianakis, Emmanouil, Antoniou, Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Culture; Culture Media; Dogs; Equidae - blood; Goats - blood; Horse blood; Horses - blood; Humans; Leishmania; Leishmania - growth & development; Leishmania donovani; Leishmania donovani - growth & development; Leishmania infantum; Leishmania infantum - growth & development; Leishmania major; Leishmania major - growth & development; Leishmania tropica; Leishmania tropica - growth & development; NNN medium; Sheep - blood
• ISSN: 0014-4894; 1090-2449
• DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2015.07.008

The efficacy of the in vitro cultivation of promastigotes of four Leishmania spp. was tested in the biphasic Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle (NNN) medium prepared using blood from different animals (horse, donkey, goat and sheep). The aim was to test which NNN preparation gave the best yield in the shortest time for different parasite species, in order to obtain a large crop of promastigotes for experimental work and for antigen preparation. Promastigotes of Leishmania infantum, Leishmania donovani, Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major, the four main parasite species occurring in the old world, were defrosted from −80 °C and placed, at equal numbers, in the 4 different NNN preparations. At the end of the 7th day, the NNN medium using horse blood produced the greatest number of promastigotes for all Leishmania spp. tested, whilst goat blood proved the poorest medium, providing culture results only for L. infantum. This finding may be explained by the fact that Leishmania is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) auxotroph and horse erythrocytes support NAD-dependent microorganisms. [Display omitted] •NNN is the most common culture medium for Leishmania isolation.•Four different blood sources were tested for the preparation of NNN medium in order to obtain Leishmania cultures.•Horse blood is proposed as an alternative successful source for NNN medium Leishmania cultures.