Efecto de la prodigiosina sobre la respiración de la forma de cultivo de Schizotrypanum cruzi

The effect of prodigiosin on the respiration of the culture form of S.cruzi at 31° C was studied by manometric techniques. The middle concentration of the antibiotic used (0.5 x 10 -5 M. or 1 .7 μg/ml) inhibited respiration about 67 per cent in the presence of glucose and 95 per cent in the presence of glutamine, as compared with the controls with the substrates alone. At the end of the experiment (2 hours ) al! the organisms wcre practically motionless in both cases. Prodigiosin also inhibited a fraction of the endogenous respiration of the flagellates. Some considerations are made, in relation to the possible therapeutic use of the drug.