TABLE 1.

Bioluminescence signal and lesion suppression rates in BALB/c mice treated with known antileishmanial compounds^a

Compound tested	Dose (mg/kg)	Bioluminescence signal suppression at 18 ± 1 days postinfection	Lesion suppression at 60 ± 2 days postinfection
Amphotericin B formulations
Amphotericin B	2	−88.1	−70.7
Amphotericin B	4	−150.0	−33.0
Amphotericin B	6	36.5	66.7
Amphotericin B	8	67.3*	88.8*
Amphotericin B	16	99.1*	84.5*
ABLC	12.5	74.2*	60.9*
ABLC	25	93.1*	77.9*
ABLC	37.5	99.4*	96.5*
AmBisome	12.5	99.4*	80.7*
AmBisome	25	99.8*	99.1*
AmBisome	37.5	100*	100.0*
AmBisome	50	100*	100.0*
Other antileishmanial compounds
Paromomycin	80	100*	100*
Sodium stibogluconate	400	89.7*	65.9
Pentamidine	50	68.9	63.1&
Sinefungin	10b	99.9*	Euthanized
Posaconazole	100	94.9*	96.5*
Ofloxacin	80	−52.8	−85.4
Miltefosine	17.5	18.1	−20.1
Fluconazole	160	−0.4	−10.6
Glucantime	100	−13.7	−29.8

^aThe lesion suppression activities of different doses of the three formulations of amphotericin B and other known antileishmanial compounds are shown. Five BALB/c mice were assigned to each treatment and vehicle-control group. Mice were infected i.d. with 1 × 10⁷ stationary-phase luciferase-expressing L. major parasites at the base of the tail on day 0. Drug treatments were initiated on day 3 postinfection. Drugs were given for 10 consecutive days, except for paromomycin, sodium stibogluconate, sinefungin, and i.m. pentamidine, which were given for 7, 14, 8, and 3 days, respectively. The mean bioluminescence signals at the infection site (in number of photons per second per mouse) and the mean lesion size (in square millimeters) were measured on days 18 ± 1 and 60 ± 2 postinfection, respectively, and were expressed as a percentage of the bioluminescence signal compared with that for the vehicle-control group or the mean percent lesion suppression compared with that for the vehicle-control group. A single-factor ANOVA (Dunnett's test) was used to determine whether differences in group means existed across the experiment. *, a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05); &, lesion size was last measured on day 33 postinfection.

^bThe bioluminescence signal was measured for the last time on day 11 postinfection, when all animals were euthanized due to drug toxicity (weight loss, ≥20%). As a result, only eight doses of sinefungin were given.