Natural Substances as New Potential Strategies for the Treatment of Leishmaniosisin Dogs

De Vito Virginia,Amnart Poapolathep,Helen Owen,Giorgi Mario

doi:10.3844/ajavsp.2017.169.175

De Vito Virginia, Amnart Poapolathep + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3844/ajavsp.2017.169.175

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Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by the protozoan parasites Leishmania, infecting numerous mammal species. Canine leishmaniasis is potentially zoonotic and causes severe fatal disease in dogs. The discovery of new natural products extracted from medicinal plants or compounds derived from them, such as quercetin, hesperidin, vitamin c, horse chestnut extract and selenium could represent a valuable source of new medicinal agents for treating leishmaniasis in dogs.

Highlights

Leishmaniosisis a disease caused by more than 20 protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania
The discovery of new natural products extracted from medicinal plants or compounds derived from them, such as quercetin, hesperidin, vitamin c, horse chestnut extract and selenium could represent a valuable source of new medicinal agents for treating leishmaniasis in dogs
Findings of this study suggest that, if compared with a previous study in dogs (Reinboth et al, 2010; dose: 10 mg kg−1; Cmax: 0.77 μg mL−1), quercetin is expected to have linear first-order kinetics in dogs for doses ranging from 10 to 150 mg kg−1

Summary

Introduction

Leishmaniosisis a disease caused by more than 20 protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. L. infantum has been identified as a major, potentially fatal, zoonotic infection in regions of Europe, Africa, Asia and America (Gramiccia and Gradoni, 2005), other species such as L. chagasi, L. mexicana, L. braziliensis, L. donovani or L. amazonensis are potential etiologic agents (Lainson and Shaw, 2005; Alvar et al, 2004) Due to their close association with people, dogs are considered the main reservoir of human infection and phlebotomine sand flies are the biological vectors of this protozoal disease (Reguera et al, 2016; Baneth et al, 2008). In a study by Reinboth et al (2010), a single administration of quercetin in dogs at the dose of 150 mg/subject (about 10 mg kg−1) showed a maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of 234 nmol L−1 (equivalent to 0.77 μg mL−1) and a very low bioavailability (4%) These results are in agreement with different studies present in literature on other animal species. Considering selenium activities and its IC50 value, this compound might be used against leishmaniasis with dose-dependent anti-leishmanial activities

Conclusion

Findings

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