Leishmania tropica: The effect of darkness and light on biological activities in vitro

► In this study we investigate the effect of light and dark conditions on various cellular parameters of Leishmania tropica promastigotes in vitro. ► Experiments were conducted on promastigote and amastigote-macrophage culture, by using flow cytometric analysis, MTT and phenol-sulfuric acid assay, DAPI and Giemsa. ► The effect of light on various biological parameters such as morphology, proliferation, cell cycle, glucose consumption, mitochondrial enzyme activity and infectivity of Leishmania parasites were examined and it is shown that visible light affects biological activity of parasites.