The use of an amino acid as a precursor of a bioactive metabolite in combatting an infectious disease: the efficacy of a tryptophan-enriched diet in the treatment of leprosy

Mauron, J. ; Ganapati, R. ; Mahadevan, P. R. ; Anantharaman, K. (1992) The use of an amino acid as a precursor of a bioactive metabolite in combatting an infectious disease: the efficacy of a tryptophan-enriched diet in the treatment of leprosy Amino Acids, 2 (3). pp. 255-269. ISSN 0939-4451

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Official URL: http://www.springerlink.com/content/q40un12t26k502...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00805947

Abstract

Deoxyfructosylserotonin (DFS), a stable derivative of serotonin, was shown to have an anti-leprosy effect (Mester and Antia). Therefore, a tryptophan-enriched food (NAL) was devised to increase the concentration of free tryptophan as serotonin precursor in blood. 32 multibacillary lepromatous leprosy patients were divided in 3 groups receiving: 1) MDT (multi-drug therapy, control - 8 patients), 2) NAL (50 g/day - 13 patients) and 3) NAL + 1/2 MDT (11 patients). The clinical improvement (clinical score) was 24.2% for 1), 19.9% for 2) and 30.4% for 3). The loss of viability of theM. leprae bacilli in the mouse foot-pad test was 66% for 1), 75% for 2) and 70% for 3). The improvement by serodiagnosis (ELISA) was 19.4% for 1), 25.1% for 2) and 23.3% for 3). These preliminary results (6 months) suggest that the NAL-food is efficient against leprosy and apparently not very different from the control MDT in that respect.

Item Type:Article
Source:Copyright of this article belongs to Springer-Verlag.
Keywords:Amino Acids; Multibacillary leprosy; Diet Therapy; Multidrug-therapy; Tryptophan; Serotonin
ID Code:27668
Deposited On:10 Dec 2010 11:52
Last Modified:10 Jun 2011 06:45

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