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In vitro effect of artemether-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) on Leishmania infantum

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Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an acute and deadly form of leishmaniasis, caused by Leishmania infantum parasite. Due to the toxicity and side effects of conventional treatment options, such as glucantime and other pentavalent drugs, finding novel drugs with fewer adverse effects is required. Artemether (ART), is one of the derivatives of artemisinin, which was shown to be effective in treating malaria and more recently, leishmaniasis. In this fundamental-applied research, we compared the effect of ART and nanostructure loaded with artemether (NLC-ART) on Leishmania infantum promastigotes and amastigotes, at different concentrations (2.5–5-10–25-50–100 μg/ml) using the MTT(3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay method after 24 and 48 h of treatment. Inhibitory concentration (IC50) values (μg/ml) of promastigote and amastigote of L. infantum to ART/ NLC-ART, after 48 h of treatment, were found to be 37.12 / 32.1 and 16.43 / 15.42, respectively. Moreover, we found that (NLC-ART), had the lowest cytotoxicity against the J774 macrophage cell line. Conclusion: The NLC-ART can be a good candidate for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis.

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Availability of data and materials

The dataset used and/or analyzed during the current study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

FBS:

Fetal bovine serum

NLC:

Nanostructured lipid carrier

NLC-ART:

Artemether-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier

DMSO:

Dimethyl sulfoxide; AMB: Amphotericin B

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Acknowledgements

The results presented in this research were extracted from Meisam khazaei M.Sc. student. The dissertation was supported by the research council of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the vice-chancellor for research affairs of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran (Grant No. 97–01-01–17263).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Meisam Khazaei, Vahid Rahnama, Mohammad Hossein Motazedian & Gholamreza Hatam

  2. Nanomedicine and Nano Biology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Mohammad Hossein Motazedian

  3. Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Soliman Mohammadi Samani

Authors
  1. Meisam Khazaei
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  2. Vahid Rahnama
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  3. Mohammad Hossein Motazedian
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  4. Soliman Mohammadi Samani
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  5. Gholamreza Hatam
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Contributions

All authors contributed in this study: Parasite and cell culture, statistical analysis, promastigote in vitro cytotoxicity assay, J774 macrophages in vitro cytotoxicity assay, data collection, [Meisam Khazaei, Vahid Rahnama, Mohammad Hossein Motazedian, Soliman Mohammadi Samani, Gholamreza Hatam], preparation of nano structure loaded with artemether (NLC-ART) [Vahid Rahnama].

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad Hossein Motazedian.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (IR.SUMS.REC.1397.1038).

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Khazaei, M., Rahnama, V., Motazedian, M.H. et al. In vitro effect of artemether-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) on Leishmania infantum. J Parasit Dis 45, 964–971 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-021-01373-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-021-01373-2

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