Abstract
Leishmaniasis is one of the six major tropical diseases that is spreading geographically in the world, with no definitive cure. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anti-leishmanial effects of Olea europaea and Ficus carica extracts against Leishmania major in both in vitro and in vivo experimental models. The in vitro efficiency concentrations of 0.1–2 mg mL− 1 of O. europaea and F. carica extracts were effective against promastigote L. major at 48 h. In addition, the lesion size and parasite burden in BALB/c mice infected with promastigote of L. major were quantified for in vivo evaluation. Results showed that IC50 of O. europaea and F. carica extracts against promastigote were 1.5 and 1.2 mg mL− 1, respectively. In addition, results from in vivo assay revealed that the mean size ± SD of lesions significantly decreased to 3.46 ± 0.96 and 3.65 ± 0.9 mm2 in mice treated with O. europaea and F. carica extracts, respectively, compared with that in the untreated group (p = 0.001). Findings also indicated that O. europaea and F. carica extracts considerably lowered the parasite burden in lesions (p < 0.001), compared with the untreated group. Both extracts showed notable activity against L. major. However, further investigations are required to controlling CL and inhibiting the development of lesions.
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Abbreviations
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- °C:
-
Celsius degree
- DMSO:
-
dimethyl sulfoxide
- IC50 :
-
50% inhibitory concentrations
- IFN-γ:
-
interferon-gamma
- kg:
-
kilogram
- mg:
-
milligram
- mL:
-
milliliters
- MA:
-
meglumine antimoniate
- SD:
-
Standard deviation
- SSG:
-
Sodium stibogluconate
- TGFβ:
-
transforming growth factor-β
- TNFα:
-
tumor necrosis factor-alpha
- USA:
-
United States
- VL:
-
visceral leishmaniasis
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran. And International Centre for Empirical Research and development, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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This work was supported by a grant (no. 5436) from the Deputy of Research, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, the decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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Siyadatpanah, A., Mirzaei, F., Hossain, R. et al. Anti-parasitic activity of the Olea europaea and Ficus carica on Leishmania major: new insight into the anti-leishmanial agents. Biologia 77, 1795–1803 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01066-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-022-01066-y