Effect of trinitroglycerin therapy on serum zinc and copper levels and liver enzyme activities in BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major MRHO/IR/75/ER

OBJECTIVE(S): To evaluate the effect of trinitroglycerin (TNG) as nitric oxide donor agent on serum copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) levels and liver enzymes in BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major (L. major) MRHO/IR/75/ER. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Inbred female mice were divided into three groups: healthy group (uninfected naive mice), control group (infected with L. major), and test group (L. major infected mice treated with TNG). TNG (200 µg/µl) was inoculated subcutaneously into the mice of the test group. Serum Cu and Zn levels and liver enzymes activities were then evaluated by atomic absorption spectrophometer and colorimetric methods, respectively. RESULTS: Serum Cu levels were significantly higher in the test group than in the control and naive groups (P-value <0.05), while Zn levels were higher in the test group than in the control group with no significant difference. Serum glutamicoxaloacetic transaminase concentrations in the test group were significantly lower than those in other groups (P-value <0.05), while serum glutamate pyruvic transaminase concentrations were significantly higher in test compared with those in other groups (P-value <0.05). Moreover, alkaline phosphatase in the control and test groups were significantly lower than that in the naive group (P-value <0.05). CONCLUSION: TNG treatment increased Zn and Cu levels and thus increased resistance to Leishmania because of the role of Zn and Cu; therefore, TNG therapy will be useful for treating cutaneous leishmania. In addition, the decrease of serum glutamicoxaloacetic transaminase activity can be an index of therapeutic process of TNG.