Caracterização espectroscópica dos parasitos causadores da leishmaniose

Abstract

This work is related to the study of six species of the genus Leishmania parasites that cause American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis (LTA) and Visceral Leishmaniasis (LV). These species were characterized by Raman Spectroscopy, through their Deoxyribonucleic Acids, DNAs. The species Leishmania amazonensis, L. braziliensis, L. guyanensis, L. infantum, L. donovani and L. major present in its vibrational spectra similar lines, differing only in line width and scattered signal intensity. In this study, an attempt was made to assign the corresponding vibrational modes to the constituent bases of the DNAs (Cytosine - C, Guanine - G, Thymine - T and Adenine - A) and we put together the Leishmania species into two groups: Group I – L. amazonensis, L. braziliensis and L. guyanensis, and Group II – L. infantum, L. donovani and L. major. The species of Group I are responsible for LTA diseases and the species of Group II are responsible for LV diseases. Moreover, with respect to the relative intensity of the vibrational bands, we could infer about the origin of the species; L. amazonensis, L. braziliensis, L. guyanensis and L. infantum originate from the New World – Americas; and the species L. donovani and L. major originate from the Old World - Europe and Asia.