The activity of platinum, iridium and rhodium drug complexes against Leishmania donovani

The activities of twenty seven Platinum, Rhodium and Iridium drug complexes were determined against Leishmania donovani amastigotes in mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro. Eight compounds showed antileshmanial activity of which only three, Rh(III)-mepacrine, Ir(III) pyrolidine dithiocarbamate and Ir(III) diethyl dithiocarbamate had ED50 values of less than 1 μM. The two Iridium complexes produced, respectively, a 50% and 39% suppression of L. donovani amastigotes in the liver of BALB/c mice following the subcutaneous administration of 200 mg/kg for 5 consecutive days. Ultrastructural studies suggest that the amastigote kinetoplast-mitocondrion complex is the primary site of action of the Ir and Rh complexes