The Cytotoxic Effect of Zno Nps Against the Intracellular Amastigotes of Leishmania Donovani in Vitro

Abstract

Leishmania parasite preferentially infect host phagocytic cells, primarily dendritic cells and macrophages. One of the main problems with Leishmania infections is the capability of these parasites to evade and subvert immune responses of the host. Leishmaniasis is treated with a small arsenal of drugs; all of them have disadvantages in terms of efficacy, high price, toxicity or treatment regimen. In this study, the effect of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) was evaluated against intracellular amastigotes Leishmania donovani in vitro conditions. The effect of different concentrations from ZnO NPs (0.18, 0.37, 0.75 and 1.5 μg / ml) was used to study on the viability of amastigotes and macrophages “following infection using the colorimetric (MTT) assay. The results have been shown that the ZnO NPs have a cytotoxic effect on the proliferation of the amastigotes forms and have no effect. The IC50 of ZnO NPs on amastigotes was (0.610 µg/ ml), This study concluded that the used concentrations of ZnO NPs have the ability to stimulate macrophages activity and promote the suppressive effects on L. donovani intracellular amastigotes in vitro following infection. These results may contribute to the production of an effective, non-toxic and cheap drug against Leishmania parasites