Introduction:Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, is a diffuse protozoan infection caused by Leishmania donovani complex. VL is principally caused by L. donovani and L. infantum (synonym L. chagasi in South America). The parasite targets the reticulo-endothelial system, with penetration of the spleen, liver, bone marrow and lymph nodes lead to organomegaly and pancytopenia. Organic pentavalent antimonials have been the first-line drugs for the therapy of leishmaniasis for the latest six decades, and clinical resistance to these drugs has emerged as a primary obstacle to successful treatment and control. Miltefosine has been shown to be higher or equivalent to presently approved essential medicines for at least one of visceral, cutaneous or mucosal leishmaniasis. Aim: The aim of this study is to clarify the effect of miltefosine on the number of amastigotes in the VL infected macrophage in vitro, in comparison to the effect of pentostam on the number of amastigote in the VL infected macrophage. Materials & Method:Cells were plated in 96-well tissue culture plate, after incubation, adherent macrophages were infected with Leishmania donovani promastigotes. Infected macrophages were treated with the same concentration of pentostam and miltefosine (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 μM). Treated macrophages incubated for 24, 48, 72 hours, and then stained with Gimsa stain. The results of L. donovani infected macrophages show that there were a significant differences between the percentage of infection macrophages in all used concentrations of both drugs. Results:The results show that after 24, 48, 72 hour of treating L. donovani infected macrophages with Sb or HePC, the number of infected macrophages and number of amastigote per macrophage started to decline clearly in the case of HePC, especially at high concentrations of it, in comparison to the number of infected macrophages in the case of Sb. Conclusion: This suggested that miltefosine could be a good therapeutic option for treating all forms of leishmaniasis, including visceral leishmaniasis.
In the current study, different concentrations of miltefosine drug, which is the first effective and safe oral treatment for visceral leishmaniasis, was evaluated against L. donovani promastigotes in comparison with pentosam drug. Direct counting microscopic assay was used to find 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of miltefosine and pentostam against L. donovani promastigotes. The IC50 of miltefosine drug was 45.42μg/ml, 46.76μg/ml and 36.68μg/ml after 24 hr, 48hr and 72hr respectively, In comparison with IC 50 of pentostam drug was 75.39 μg/ml after 72hr. There were significant differences (P˂0.05) between IC50 values of miltefosine and pentostam drugs from first day to third day.
Visceral leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease on the rise in different regions of Iraq, especially in areas with poor hygiene and among refugee populations. The effectiveness of existing chemotherapy for leishmaniasis is constrained by its high toxicity, cost, and the development of drug resistance. The current research examined various concentrations (ranging from 125 to 1000 μM) of lupeol to evaluate its ability to boost the generation of nitric oxide, which has anti-leishmanial properties, in an ex-vivo macrophage model. Griess assay was used to detect the nitric oxide (NO) production in Leishmania donovani infected U937 cell-line macrophages along 24 and 48 hours post treated. The nitric oxide concentration was signifi
... Show MoreLeishmaniosis is a tropical neglected parasitic disease that is endemic in many countries, including Middle East, with no existing effective vaccines. The bite of female sand-fly transmits the causative agent, Leishmania spp., to humans. High toxicity, resistance and treatment failure of the available chemotherapy against visceral leishmaniosis demands the investigation of new anti-leishmanial compounds. Lupeol is a form of triterpene isolated from several medicinal plants and possesses an antimicrobial property. In this study, cytotoxic effect of lupeol was screened against the mammalian amastigotes form and insect promastigote form of Leishmania donovani, following three cycles of incubation at different concentrations by MTT assay. Resul
... Show MoreThis study has evaluated the humoral immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani along (4) times of follow up (15, 30, 60, 90) days after infection. Indirect haemagglutination test was used to determine the antibody titer through the various stages of the study. Also the progress of the infection was studied depending on some of the visceral changes caused by the parasite, like weight of liver, length & weight of spleen & the count of Leishmania parasites in spleen were measured. Results has shown that there was an increase in antibody titer & the maximum value was recorded at the 4th day of follow up (90 days after infection) as well as that there was an increase in the length of the spleen, weight
... Show MoreLeishmania is auxotroph to folic acid,antifolates drug inhibit the synthesis and conversion of folate derivatives. In this study, cytotoxic effect of methotrexate was investigated on the procyclic promastigotes proliferation of L. donovani. The results showed a significant (p ≥ 0.05) difference in growth of treated groups at high concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125.5) μM after 24, 48 hrs., while at 72 hrs. significant difference was observed at all concentration. The IC50 values was measurable after 24, 48 and 72 hrs. and it was 174.238, 52.283 and 109.175 μM, respectively. The present study showed the cytotoxic effect of methotrexate on the proliferation of promastigotes of the visceral type of Leishmania.
It was recorded that Terpinen-4-ol has an anti-parasitic properties, so it will be noteworthy to intensify the studies about this compound.
This study aims to test the effectiveness of terpinen-4-ol on amastigote forms of Leishmania parasite in macrophages.
This effect was studied by adding increasing concentrations of Terpinen-4-ol to culture wells containing mouse macrophages that were previously incubated with the promastigote forms of the parasites for 24 hours .Then, they were incubated for another 24 hours with increasing concentrations of Terpinen-4-ol. After, Parasites were enumerated into macrophages in wells either treated with Terpinen-4-ol or in control wells.
Treatment with Ter
... Show MoreAim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of LPS in immune response through detecting some immune markers by IHC technique in the liver of mice infected with Leishmania donovani (VL). Methods: Three groups of eighteen mice were created: the first was control negative (non-infected), the second was control positive (infected with 2X107 promastigotes of Leishmania donovani), and the third group was infected with 2X107 promastigotes of Leishmania donovani and treated with 40 ng/ml of LPS. The treatment was given orally twice daily for one month. Mice were dissected, and the liver separated for an immunohistochemistry study for the markers (BCL-2, Caspase-3, CD3, CTLA-4). Results: The results showed there was significant elevatio
... Show MoreLeishmaniasis a vector- borne disease caused by obligate intra -macrophage protozoa, is characterized by diversity and complexity. Leishmania are one of different genera within the family Trypanosomatidae. Visceral leishmaniasis occurs universally, but >90% of the cases are in five countries: north-eastern India, Bangladesh, and Nepal in the Indian subcontinent, Sudan in Africa and north-eastern Brazil in South America. Sodium stibogluconate (Sb) has become ineffective in the 1990’s in most of the high -burden areas and must be replaced. However, none of the traditional alternatives was satisfactory. Oral drugs are very suitable as the need for hospitalization and related costs are eliminate
... Show MoreVisceral leishmaniosis is one of the most fatal old-world neglected disease with estimated 90 thousand worldwide cases emerge each year. In Iraq, the cutaneous and visceral form are endemic but available chemotherapies are either toxic with diverse side effects, expensive available drugs or parasite …