Abstract
Pentavalent antimonials continue to be the standard treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis. But their use is retarded owing to highly-priced, prolonged hospitalization, noxious and poor solubility. Therefore, there is a dire need to characterize new potential compounds possessing anti-leishmanial activity. Topical therapies that are more successful are an essential alternative therapeutic option for the localized self-limiting form of this disease. We tested the herbal-based topical cream Lesh Nat B against Leishmania tropica KWH23 promastigotes and axenic amastigotes in vitro. The anti-leishmanial activity of Lesh Nat B cream was evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay against promastigotes and axenic amastigotes. The results of Lesh Nat B cream were concentration and incubation time-dependent. After 72 h of incubation, Lesh Nat B cream efficiently suppresses the promastigote form of the parasite, followed by 48 h and 24 h. At 72 h, the lowest and highest levels of activity were 37% and 90%. Amastigotes had a minimum activity of 34% and a maximum activity of 78.5%, respectively. This formulation was more cytotoxic against promastigote form than amastigotes form at 72 h incubation periods. All the experiments were carried out in triplicates. Half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were determined to be (66 ug/ml) and (70 ug/ml) against promastigote and amastigote forms, respectively. Moreover, 1.63% hemolytic activity was observed in Lesh Nat B cream at (10 µg/ml) while 3% hemolytic activity was observed at (37 µg/ml). It can be concluded that Lesh Nat B cream demonstrated effective Leishmanicidal and less hemolytic activity and can be used as an alternative therapeutic option for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis; however, more studies are expected to justify its effectiveness in treating cutaneous leishmaniasis in both humans and animals.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmad A, Syed F, Imran M, Khan AU, Tahir K, Khan ZUH, Yuan Q (2015) Phytosynthesis and antileishmanial activity of gold nanoparticles by maytenus royleanus. J Food Biochem 40:420–427
Ahmed H, Curtis CR, Tur-Gracia S, Olatunji TO, Carter KC, Williams RA (2020) Drug combinations as effective anti-leishmanials against drug resistant Leishmania mexicana. RSC Med Chem 11:905–912. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0md00101
Allotey-Babington GL, Amponsah SK, Nettey T, Sasu C, Nettey H (2020) Quinine Sulphate microparticles as treatment for Leishmaniasis. J Trop Med 2020:5278518. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/5278518
Alvar J, Vélez ID, Bern C, Herrero M, Desjeux P, Cano J et al (2012) Leishmaniasis worldwide and global estimates of its incidence. PLoS ONE 7(5):e35671
Ammar AA, Nasereddin A, Ereqat S, Dan-Goor M, Jaffe CL, Zussman E, Abdeen Z (2019) Amphotericin B-loaded nanoparticles for local treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Drug DelivTransl Res 9:76–84
Baghbani MR, Rashidi S, NaderiShahabadi S, Ebrahimi S, Alipour S, Asgari Q, Motazedian MH (2023) The in vitro and in vivo effects of Lucilia sericata larval secretions on Leishmania major. J Parasit Dis 5:1–6
Barazesh A, Motazedian MH, Sattarahmady N, Morowvat MH, Rashidi S (2018) Preparation of meglumine antimonate loaded albumin nanoparticles and evaluation of its anti-leishmanial activity: an in vitro assay. J Parasit Dis 42:416–422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-018-1018-7
Chan-Bacab MJ, Peña-Rodríguez LM (2001) Plant natural products with leishmanicidal activity. Nat Prod Rep 18(6):674–688
Chusri S, Hortiwakul T, Silpapojakul K, Siriyasatien P (2012) Consecutive cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis manifestations involving a novel Leishmania species in two HIV patients in Thailand. Am J Trop Med Hyg 87:76–80
David CV, Craft N (2009) Cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. Dermatol Ther 22:491–502
Durrani AZ, Durrani HZ, Kamal N (2012) Prevalence of Leishmania in sand fly in Pakistan. Pak J Zool 44:1
Heidari-Kharaji M, Taheri T, Doroud D, Habibzadeh S, Rafati S (2016) Solid lipid nanoparticle loaded with paromomycin: in vivo efficacy against Leishmania tropica infection in BALB/c mice model. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100:7051–7060. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7422-y
Hussain M, Munir S, Khan TA, Khan A, Ayaz S, Jamal MA, Ahmed I, Aziz S, Watany N, Kasbari M (2018) Epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreak, Waziristan, Pakistan. Emerg Infect Dis 24:159–161
Hussain M, Munir S, Jamal MA, Ayaz S, Akhoundi M, Mohamed K (2017) Epidemic outbreak of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Kohat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Acta Trop 172:147–155
Kassi M, Kassi M, Afghan AK, Rehman R, Kasi PM (2008) Marring leishmaniasis: the stigmatization and the impact of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Plos Neglected Tropical Disease 2(10):e259
Khan RU, Khan M, Sohail A, Ullah R, Iqbal A, Ahmad B, Khan IU, Tariq A, Ahmad M, Said A, Ullah S (2022) Efficacy of pentamidine-loaded chitosan nanoparticles as a novel drug delivery system for Leishmania tropica. Trop Biomed 39(4):1–7
Khokhar M et al (2022) In vitro efficacy of polymer coated miltefosine drug against Leishmania tropica. J Parasit Dis Jun:1
Kobets T, Grekov I, Lipoldova M (2012) Leishmaniasis: prevention, parasite detection and treatment. Curr Med Chem 19:1443–1474
Lima DD, Gullon B, Cardelle-Cobas A, Brito LM, Rodrigues KA, Quelemes PV, Ramos-Jesus J, Arcanjo DD, Placido A, Batziou K, Quaresma P (2017) Chitosan-based silver nanoparticles: a study of the antibacterial, antileishmanial and cytotoxic effects. J Bioact Compat Polym 32:397–410
Lira R, Sundar S, Makharia A, Kenney R, Gam A, Saraiva E et al (1999) Evidence that the high incidence of treatment failures in Indian kala-azar is due to the emergence of antimony-resistant strains of Leishmania donovani. J Infect Dis 180(2):564–567
Mahmoudvand H, Sharififar F, Rahmat S, Tavakoli R, SaediDezaki E, Jahanbakhsh S et al (2014) Evaluation of antileishmanial activity and cytotoxicity of the extracts of Berberis vulgaris and Nigella sativa against Leishmania tropica. Med Veterinary Entomol 51:4
Minodier P, Parola PJ (2007) Cutaneous leishmaniasis treatment. Travel Med Infect Dis 5(3):150–158
Mostafavi M, Farajzadeh S, Sharifi I, Khazaeli P, Sharifi H (2019) Leishmanicidal effects of amphotericin B in combination with selenium loaded on niosome against Leishmania tropica. J Parasit Dis 43:176–185
Murray HW, Berman JD, Davies CR, Saravia NGJTL (2005) Saravia NGJTL. Adv Leishmaniasis 366(9496):1561–1577
Sharquie KJ (1994) A new intralesional therapy of cutaneous leishmaniasis with hypertonic sodium chloride solution. J Dermatol 39(2):19
Sharquie K, Najim R, Farjou I, Al-Timimi DJC (2001) Oral zinc sulphate in the treatment of acute cutaneous leishmaniasis. Clin Exp Dermat 26(1):21–26
Singh N, Kumar M, Singh RK (2012) Leishmaniasis: current status of available drugs and new potential drug targets. Asian Pac J Trop Med 5(6):485–497
Sohail A, Khan RU, Khan M, Khokhar M, Ullah S, Ali A, Bilal H, Khattak S, Khan M, Ahmad B (2021) Comparative efficacy of amphotericin B-loaded chitosan nanoparticles and free amphotericin B drug against Leishmania tropica. Bullet Natl Res Centre 45(1):1–9
Zein R, Alghoraibi I, Soukkarieh C, Alahmad A (2022) Investigation of cytotoxicity of biosynthesized colloidal nanosilver against local Leishmania tropica: in vitro study. Materials 15(14):4880
Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to the office of the research innovation and commercialization (ORIC) Khyber Medical University for partially supported this research work.
Funding
No organization provided financial help in any way.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Concerning the present manuscript, we can't reveal any conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All experiments and procedures were approved by Ethics Committee of Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University Peshawar, Pakistan under reference No. Dir/KMU-EB/IV/000516.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Gul, S., Khan, M., Amin, A. et al. In vitro evaluation of herbal based Lesh Nat B cream against Leishmania tropica. J Parasit Dis 47, 664–670 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-023-01611-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12639-023-01611-9