bLaboratoire de Biologie et Contrôle des Organismes Parasites, Faculté de Pharmacie,

Potent antileishmanial activity has recently been described in vivo when certain 2-substituted quinoline alkaloids are administered to mice with cutaneous leishman-iasis. We now report the antileishmanial activity of four 2-substituted quinoline alkaloids, namely chimanine D or 2 4 l',T-tr.ans-epoxypropyl) quinoline (I), 2-n;> i ' propylquinoline (II), 2-styrylquinoline (III) and 2-(2'-hydroxypropyl) quinoline (IV), for experimental treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in infected BALB/c mice. Subcutaneous treatment with chimanine D for 10 days at 0.54 mmol/kg per day resulted in 8 6 6 % parasite suppression in the liver. Oral administration of 0.54 mmol/kg of 2-n-propylquinoline once daily for 5 or 10 days to L. donovani-infected mice suppressed parasite burdens in liver by 87.8 and 99.9%, respectively. Cutaneous administration of meglumine antimonate for 1 O days resulted in 97.4 % parasite suppression in the liver. This study is, to our knowledge, the first to demonstrate the activity of 2-substituted quinoline alkaloids in experi-mental treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. Further biological and chemical studies of these products might yet prove helpful for the development of new antileish-mania1 drugs