In vitro and in vivo susceptibility of Leishmania major to some medicinal plants

• Published in: Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
• Main Authors: Fatemeh Maleki, Mitra Zarebavani, Mehdi Mohebali, Mohammad Saaid Dayer, Fateme Hajialiani, Fatemeh Tabatabaie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2017
• Subjects: Leishmaniasis; Glucantime; Plant extracts; Mice; Medicinal plants; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apjtb.2016.11.008; https://doaj.org/article/093c8aae835142d497f83ddb30236be1

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of some medicinal plants and systemic glucantime in a comparative manner against the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis both in vitro and in BALB/c mice. Methods: For in vivo testing, inbred mice were challenged with Leishmania major parasites and the resultant ulcers were treated with extract based-ointments applied topically two times per day for a period of 20 days. A group of 56 mice were randomly divided into 7 subgroups. The control group received the ointment void of extracts, whereas the reference group received glucantime only. The efficacy of treatments was evaluated by measuring ulcer diameter, parasite burden and NO production. Results: Our results indicated that plant extract based-ointments were effective in reducing ulcer size and parasite burden in spleens, but their effects did not differ significantly from that of glucantime. The plant extracts tested in this study were able to increase NO production that helped parasite suppression. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the tested plant extracts are effective against Leishmania major both during in vitro and in vivo experiments, but further researches are required to recommend a potential plant extract as an alternative drug.