LEISHMANIA-MEXICANA - BINDING OF PROMASTIGOTES TO TYPE-I COLLAGEN

Leishmania mexicana: Binding of promastigotes to type I collagen. Expe rimental Parasitology 85, 149-157. During leishmania infection, parasi tes are inoculated to the human host through the bite of a sandfly vec tor into the dermis, where they first interact with tissue components, cells and extracellular matrix molecules. Since collagen is the most abundant component of the skin matrix, we investigated whether there i s a specific interaction of Leishmania mexicana promastigotes with thi s host component. Promastigotes were able to attach to collagen fibril s and move through the matrix of mouse skin sections and to penetrate easily into a type I collagen gel. Denatured type I collagen coated be ads (Cytodex 3) readily bound to the parasite surface. The interaction of promastigotes with type 1 collagen was dose dependent and saturabl e and was competitively and specifically inhibited with increasing con centrations of gelatin. Biotin-labeled parasite surface molecules were able to associate with both denatured collagen from microcarriers and native type I collagen from bovine kidney. It is suggested that the p resence of parasite cell membrane receptors to collagen may confer a s pecific tropism for the skin, where collagen is the most abundant comp onent of he matrix. (C) 1997 Academic Press.