KAFKAS UNIVERSITESI VETERINER FAKULTESI DERGISI

Leishmania (L.) tropica is one of the most common species responsible for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in the Old World including Turkey. The pentavalent antimonials are widely used as intralesional and/or intramuscular in the treatment of CL, but increase in resistance to these agents led to investigations on alternative drugs. In vitro antileishmanial activities of two macrolides, azithromycin and clarithromycin were evaluated on promastigotes in RPMI 1640 medium and amastigotes in macrophage series of L. tropica. ED50 values of azithromycin and clarithromycin were found to be 5 mu g/ml and <5 mu g/ml on promastigotes, and 50-75 mu g/ml and