In vitro and in vivo leishmanicidal activity of a ruthenium nitrosyl complex against Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis.

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. There are many complications presented by the current treatment, as high toxicity, high cost and parasite resistance, making the development of new therapeutic agents indispensable. The present study aims to evaluate the leishmanicidal potential of ruthenium nitrosyl complex cis-[Ru(bpy)2(SO3)(NO)](PF6) against Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis. The effect of this metal complex on parasite-host interaction was evaluated by in vitro efficacy test in dermal fibrobast cells in the presence of different concentrations (1, 10, 50 and 100 μM) and by in vivo efficacy tests performed in the presence of two different concentrations of complex (100 μg/kg/day or 300 μg/kg/day) evaluating its effect on the size of the lesion and the number of parasites present in the draining lymph nodes in hamsters. Even at the lowest concentration of 1 μM of ruthenium complex, it was observed a significant decrease of the infected cells, after 24 h exposure in vitro, with total reduction at 50 μM of the ruthenium complex. In the in vivo cutaneous infection model, administration of daily doses of 300 μg/kg/day of complex reduced significantly lesion size by 51% (p < 0.05), with a 99.9% elimination of the parasites found in the lymph nodes (p < 0.001). The results suggest a promising leishmanicidal effect by that ruthenium nitrosyl complex against L. (V.) braziliensis.