Table 2.

In vivo antileishmanial activities of NET-AmB and CNC-AmB compared to those of Fungizone and AmBisome in the established model of Syrian golden hamsters infected with L. donovani amastigotes^a

Treatment group (n = 5) or condition	No. of amastigotes/100 MPϕ nucleib	% Inhibition of splenic amastigotesc
Before treatment	402.2 ± 42.31
NET-AmB	143.3 ± 25.42	64.4 ± 6.91
CNC-AmB	55.8 ± 10.31	86.1 ± 2.08
Fungizone	178.9 ± 28.44	55.5 ± 4.34
AmBisome	121.6 ± 4.83	69.8 ± 3.13

^aA shortened treatment course was given, consisting of 5 intraperitoneal injections over a 5-day period (on days 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 postinfection), making a total dose of 5 mg of AmB/kg of hamster body weight.

^bThe NET-AmB group is statistically significantly different from the Fungizone and AmBisome groups (P < 0.01), and the CNC-AmB group is statistically significantly different from the Fungizone and AmBisome groups (P < 0.05), by the Tukey test followed by Dunn's multiple-comparison test.

^cThe NET-AmB group is statistically significantly different from the Fungizone and AmBisome groups (P < 0.01), and the CNC-AmB group is statistically significantly different from the Fungizone and AmBisome groups (P < 0.01), by the Tukey test followed by Dunn's multiple-comparison test.