Impact of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on the control of parasite loads and inflammation in Leishmania amazonensis infection

Background: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) protect the host against a large number of pathogenic microorganisms. ROS have different effects on parasites of the genus Leishmania: some parasites are susceptible to their action, while others seem to be resistant. The role of ROS in L. amazonensis infection in vivo has not been addressed to date.

Methods: In this study, C57BL/6 wild-type mice (WT) and mice genetically deficient in ROS production by phagocytes (gp91(phox-/-)) were infected with metacyclic promastigotes of L. amazonensis to address the effect of ROS in parasite control. Inflammatory cytokines, parasite loads and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were evaluated. In parallel, in vitro infection of peritoneal macrophages was assessed to determine parasite killing, cytokine, NO and ROS production.

Results: In vitro results show induction of ROS production by infected peritoneal macrophages, but no effect in parasite killing. Also, ROS do not seem to be important to parasite killing in vivo, but they control lesion sizes at early stages of infection. IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-10 production did not differ among mouse strains. Myeloperoxidase assay showed augmented neutrophils influx 6 h and 72 h post - infection in gp91(phox-/-) mice, indicating a larger inflammatory response in gp91(phox-/-) even at early time points. At later time points, neutrophil numbers in lesions correlated with lesion size: larger lesions in gp91(phox-/-) at earlier times of infection corresponded to larger neutrophil infiltrates, while larger lesions in WT mice at the later points of infection also displayed larger numbers of neutrophils.

Conclusion: ROS do not seem to be important in L. amazonensis killing, but they regulate the inflammatory response probably by controlling neutrophils numbers in lesions.