Flow cytometric assessment of drug susceptibility in Leishmania infantum promastigotes.

Flow cytometry can be a valuable tool for parasitology in studies of parasite-drug interaction and cellular toxicity. This unit presents protocols for assessment of Leishmania promastigote proliferation, viability, and cellular protein content. The cytometric approach permits one to detect, differentiate, and quantify cellular changes in these parasites resulting from drug treatment, in this case allopurinol, as well as demonstrate differences in drug susceptibility between promastigote forms. Rapid and relatively simple flow cytometry replaces incorporation of [3H]-thymidine, hitherto the most common method for determining cell division.