Abstract
The leishmanicidal activity of Aloe vera leaf exudate (AVL) has been demonstrated in promastigotes and axenic amastigotes, but its effectiveness in animal models has not been evaluated. The presence of alkaloids, triterpenes, cyanidines, proanthocyanidines, tannins, and saponins in AVL was identified. Its effectiveness in four Leishmania donovani strains was studied both in promastigotes (IC50 ranged from 70–115 μg/ml) and amastigotes (IC50 ranged from 3.1–11.4 μg/ml). In amastigotes, the killing by AVL was facilitated through its induction of nitric oxide in leishmania-infected macrophages. The safety index was good as AVL up to 300 μg/ml remained non-toxic to monocytes and macrophages. In a L. donovani BALB/c mouse model, oral or subcutaneous administration of AVL (15 mg/kg body weight × 5 days) reduced parasitemia by >90% in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow without impairment of hepatic and renal functions. Collectively, we conclude that AVL shows promising antileishmanial activity and may provide a new lead agent in the treatment of Leishmaniasis.
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Acknowledgements
The work received financial support from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. Avijit Dutta received a Senior Research Fellowship from Indian Council of Medical Research. We gratefully acknowledge the receipt of strains from the Leishmania Bank (Dr. Swadesh Duttagupta, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata) and Dr. Neeloo Singh, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow.
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Chitra Mandal and Mitali Chatterjee should be considered as joint senior authors.
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Dutta, A., Sarkar, D., Gurib-Fakim, A. et al. In vitro and in vivo activity of Aloe vera leaf exudate in experimental visceral leishmaniasis. Parasitol Res 102, 1235–1242 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0899-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0899-2