pharmaceuticals Article Quinolizidine-Derived Lucanthone and Amitriptyline Analogues Endowed with Potent Antileishmanial Activity Michele Tonelli 1,* , Anna Sparatore 2,* , Nicoletta Basilico 3,* , Loredana Cavicchini 3, Silvia Parapini 4 , Bruno Tasso 1 , Erik Laurini 5 , Sabrina Pricl 5,6 , Vito Boido 1 and Fabio Sparatore 1 1 Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Genova, Viale Benedetto XV, 3, 16132 Genova, Italy;
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[email protected] (F.S.) 2 Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 25, 20133 Milano, Italy 3 Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Chirurgiche e Odontoiatriche, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Pascal 36, 20133 Milano, Italy;
[email protected] 4 Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 31, 20133 Milano, Italy;
[email protected] 5 Molecular Biology and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MolBNL@UniTS), DEA, Piazzale Europa 1, 34127 Trieste, Italy;
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[email protected] (S.P.) 6 Department of General Biophysics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, 90-236 Lodz, Poland * Correspondence:
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[email protected] (N.B.) Received: 4 October 2020; Accepted: 21 October 2020; Published: 25 October 2020 Abstract: Leishmaniases are neglected diseases that are endemic in many tropical and sub-tropical Countries. Therapy is based on different classes of drugs which are burdened by severe side effects, occurrence of resistance and high costs, thereby creating the need for more efficacious, safer and inexpensive drugs.