Table 1.
Description of treatment groups.
Table 2.
Comparison of mean wound size in study groups during five weeks of treatment.
The mice were divided into eight groups, and nine were allocated to each group.
Fig 1.
Efficacy of the combination of EGF (1.5 and 4.5 μg/kg) with Glucantime and SinaAmpholeish treatment against lesion progression in BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major.
Mice were injected (SC) with L. major promastigotes at the base of the tail. Animals received a five-week treatment when a nodular lesion had formed at the inoculation site. (A) Evaluation of lesion size progression during five weeks of treatment in groups (n = 9 per group). Each point represents the mean ± SD. (B) Comparison of lesion size in the groups at the end of the fifth week. Statistical analysis was performed with One Way ANOVA, followed by the Tukey post-test, **P < 0.01; ****P < 0.0001. ns: non-significant. (C) Image of the lesions in each group before and at the end of the treatment, photographed by the authors. After week five, the most reduction in lesion size was revealed in groups treated with EGF 4.5 μg/kg with liposomal Amphotericin B (SinaAmpholeish) or Glucantime.
Fig 2.
Parasite burden was determined by quantitative real-time PCR on the skin lesions of animals infected with L. major.
At the end of the fifth week of treatment, the DNA was isolated from tissue of the infected base of the tail of the BALB/c. Statistical analysis was performed with One Way ANOVA, followed by the Tukey post-test, *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ****P < 0.0001. ns: Non-significant.
Fig 3.
Representative illustration of pathologic sections of lesions at the end of treatment (week 5).
A and B: Severe granulomatous abscess in pathologic sections of control mice (without treatment). A deep ulcer in the skin and inflammatory cells of the histiocyte/macrophage type with lymphocytic infiltration with intracytoplasmic organisms (pseudo-amastigote) are seen in the dermis; C and D: Amastigotes in dead macrophages are illustrated in the untreated control group; arrows indicate amastigotes inside parasitophorous vacuoles; E and F: representation of repairing tissue in the lesions treated with nano liposomal Amphotericin plus EGF 4.5 μg/kg. There is a reduction in inflammatory cells without amastigote bodies, representing the start of wound repair.