Estimation of Biological Parameters of Cutaneous Ulcers Caused by Leishmaniasis in an Animal Model Using Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy.

Deivid Botina,Johnson Garzón,Maria C Torres-Madronero,Franck Marzani,Sara M Robledo,Ricardo Franco,Jaime Montaño,Artur Zarzycki,Javier Murillo,July Galeano,Camilo Bermúdez

doi:10.3390/s19214674

Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease that requires novel tools for its understanding, diagnosis, and treatment follow-up. In the cases of other cutaneous pathologies, such as cancer or cutaneous ulcers due to diabetes, optical diffuse reflectance-based tools and methods are widely used for the investigation of those illnesses. These types of tools and methods offer the possibility to develop portable diagnosis and treatment follow-up systems. In this article, we propose the use of a three-layer diffuse reflectance model for the study of the formation of cutaneous ulcers caused by CL. The proposed model together with an inverse-modeling procedure were used in the evaluation of diffuse-reflectance spectral signatures acquired from cutaneous ulcers formed in the dorsal area of 21 golden hamsters inoculated with Leishmanisis braziliensis. As result, the quantification of the model’s variables related to the main biological parameters of skin were obtained, such as: diameter and volumetric fraction of keratinocytes, collagen; volumetric fraction of hemoglobin, and oxygen saturation. Those parameters show statistically significant differences among the different stages of the CL ulcer formation. We found that these differences are coherent with histopathological manifestations reported in the literature for the main phases of CL formation.

Highlights

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that can present three clinical manifestations: cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral
We propose the use of a three-layer diffuse reflectance model for the study of the formation of cutaneous ulcers caused by Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in an animal model
A total of 21 golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus V strain) were used. These were distributed as 8 females and 13 males, and inoculated in their dorsal area with Leishmaniasis brasiliensis (LB)

Summary

Introduction

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that can present three clinical manifestations: cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral. It is present in 98 countries located especially in tropical and subtropical regions, mainly affecting developing countries. For the case of other cutaneous pathologies, such as cancer or cutaneous ulcers due to diabetes, it is possible to find research works related to the use of different non-invasive tools for the investigation of those illnesses. Among those tools, those based on optical diffuse reflectance are some of the most used [5,6,7], offering portability and feasibility for the development of low-cost diagnosis and treatment follow-up systems [8]

Methods

Results

Conclusion