LIPOSOMAL FORMULATION FOR TOPICAL APPLICATION IN PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY AGAINST CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS

ASTORGA, LAURA PATRICIA; FRANCESCHINIS, GASTÓN; MAZA VEGA, DANIELA; LILLO, CRISTIAN; ALONSO, SILVIA DEL VALLE; MONTANARI, JORGE; CALIENNI, MARIA NATALIA

Congreso; Reunión de Sociedades de Biociencias 2021; 2021

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic parasitic disease in northern Argentina. Itdoes not heal spontaneously, and after prolonged and painful treatments the diseasecan evolve into a disfiguring and disabling form. The present work aims to obtain aliposomal formulation for topical application for photodynamic therapy (PDT) againstCL. The formulation will allow the transport of methylene blue to the viable epidermiswhere the infected cells are located, to then activate it with light in such a way as toproduce site-specific toxicity.Ultradeformable liposomes, composed of soy phosphatidylcholine and sodium cholate,loaded with methylene blue, were obtained by means of traditional methods. Thesuspension was characterized physicochemically by dynamic light scattering and zetapotential. Encapsulation efficiency, drug-lipid ratio, and oxygen consumption as anindicator of ROS production after photoactivation were also determined. Thecytotoxicity, both intrinsic and after photoactivation, of different concentrations of theformulation was determined by MTT in the cell line HaCaT. The photoactivation wascarried out with a red LED light source emitting around λ = 600 nm.In the future, the non-cytotoxic concentrations after photoactivation will be employedto assess the antiparasitic activity against promastigotes of L. braziliensis.In conclusion, it is expected to contribute with alternatives therapies against thisneglected disease.