Anti-leishmanial effects of resveratrol and resveratrol nanoemulsion on Leishmania major

Parisa Mousavi,Ayatollah Nasrollahi Omran,Bahman Rahimi Esboei,Maryam Pourhajibagher,Hadi Hassannia,Zabihollah Shahmoradi,Hamid Hasanpour,Seyed Hossein Hejazi,Mahdi Fakhar

doi:10.1186/s12866-022-02455-8

Abstract

BackgroundLeishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease that is endemic in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. Low efficacy and high cytotoxicity of the current treatment regimens for leishmaniasis is one of the most important health problems. In this experimental study, anti-leishmanial effects of different concentrations of resveratrol and resveratrol nano-emulsion (RNE) were assessed.MethodsRNE was prepared using the probe ultra-sonication method. The cytotoxicity was evaluated using the MTT technique on the L929 cell line. The anti-leishmanial activities on promastigotes of leishmania were assessed using vital staining and infected BALB/c mice were used to assess the in vivo anti-leishmanial effects.ResultsIn vitro and in vivo assays revealed that all concentrations of resveratrol and RNE had valuable inhibitory effects against Leishmania major in comparison to the control group (P < 0.05). The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were calculated as 16.23 and 35.71 µg/mL for resveratrol and RNE, respectively. Resveratrol and RNE showed no cytotoxicity against the L929 cell line.ConclusionsAccording to the potent in vitro and in vivo anti-leishmanial activity of RNE at low concentration against L. major, we suggest that it could be a promising anti-leishmanial therapeutic against L. major in the future.

Highlights

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease caused by a vector borne protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania that is an endemic disease in 102 countries in five continents with 12 and 15 million infected cases in the world, 350 million are at risk, 1.5 to 2 million new cases and 70,000 deaths annually [1, 2]
The negative potential is high enough to avoid the aggregation of nanoparticles and keep their dispersion system stable
Docherty et al evaluated the effects of topically applied resveratrol on cutaneous herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections caused by an acyclovir-resistant virus in hairless mice and the results indicated that resveratrol inhibits HSV lesion formation in the skin of mice without any apparent dermal toxicity such as scaling, erythema, lichenification, crusting, and excoriation [32]

Summary

Introduction

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease caused by a vector borne protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania that is an endemic disease in 102 countries in five continents with 12 and 15 million infected cases in the world, 350 million are at risk, 1.5 to 2 million new cases and 70,000 deaths annually [1, 2]. Resveratrol (3,5,4’ -trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) belongs to the polyphenols’ stilbenoids group, having two phenolic rings linked to each other by an ethylene bridge. This natural polyphenol has been found in at least 72 plant species, especially in grapes’ skin and seeds, and was detected in discrete amounts in red wines and various human foods [13, 14]. Low efficacy and high cytotoxicity of the current treatment regimens for leishmaniasis is one of the most important health problems. In this experimental study, anti-leishmanial effects of different concentrations of resveratrol and resveratrol nano-emulsion (RNE) were assessed

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