Esboei Bahman Rahimi, Mohebali Mehdi, Mousavi Parisa, Fakhar Mahdi, Akhoundi Behnaz
Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Molecular and Cell Biology Research Center, Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
J Vector Borne Dis. 2018 Apr-Jun;55(2):111-115. doi: 10.4103/0972-9062.242557.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Leishmaniasis is one of the major neglected zoonotic parasitic diseases whose treatment and control is very complex. Pentavalent antimonials remain the primary drugs against different forms of leishmaniasis, however, resistance to antimony and its toxic effects has necessitated the development of alternative medications such as use of medicinal plants and natural compounds. The aim of the current study was to assess the in vitro and in vivo activities of chitosan as a natural resource against Leishmania major.
Low molecular weight chitosan, with 95% degree of deacetylation was melted in normal saline to a final concentration of 50, 100, 200 and 400 μg/ml. Then, the promastigotes of L. major (Iranian strain) were added to the wells of 96-well plate and 20 μl of each concentration was added to the RPMI 1640 medium. Live and dead promastigotes were counted after adding 0.1% eosin stain. The efficacy of the chitosan was also examined in BALB/c mice infected with Iranian strain of L. major. All in vitro experiments were performed in triplicate and the results of in vitro and in vivo tests were compared to the acetic acid and NaOH as negative control and glucantime as positive control.
The low molecular weight chitosan was completely effective at concentrations of 100, 200 and 400 μg/ml on promastigotes of L. major after 180 min of application. Moreover, in the in vivo study, the mean size of dermal lesions significantly decreased in the groups treated with the chitosan compared to the control group.
INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that chitosan is a potent active compound against L. major and could be evaluated as a new antileishmanial drug in the future.
利什曼病是主要的被忽视的人畜共患寄生虫病之一，其治疗和控制非常复杂。五价锑制剂仍然是治疗不同类型利什曼病的主要药物，然而，对锑的耐药性及其毒性作用使得开发替代药物成为必要，例如使用药用植物和天然化合物。本研究的目的是评估作为天然资源的壳聚糖对硕大利什曼原虫的体外和体内活性。
将脱乙酰度为95%的低分子量壳聚糖在生理盐水中溶解至最终浓度为50、100、200和400μg/ml。然后，将硕大利什曼原虫（伊朗株）的前鞭毛体加入96孔板的孔中，并将每种浓度的20μl加入RPMI 1640培养基中。加入0.1%伊红染色后，对活的和死的前鞭毛体进行计数。还在感染了硕大利什曼原虫伊朗株的BALB/c小鼠中检测了壳聚糖的疗效。所有体外实验均重复进行三次，并将体外和体内试验的结果与作为阴性对照的醋酸和氢氧化钠以及作为阳性对照的葡糖胺锑钠进行比较。
在应用180分钟后，低分子量壳聚糖在浓度为100、200和400μg/ml时对硕大利什曼原虫的前鞭毛体完全有效。此外，在体内研究中，与对照组相比，用壳聚糖治疗的组皮肤病变的平均大小显著减小。
根据研究结果，可以得出结论，壳聚糖是一种对硕大利什曼原虫有效的活性化合物，未来可作为一种新的抗利什曼病药物进行评估。
