Leishmania parasites are the causative agent of leishmaniasis. Many studies are inspecting chemical drugs, including the use of miltefosine and amphotericin B, but curative values may be limited for these drugs with side effects due to the chemical origin, therefore, investigating less toxic therapies is essential. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of artemisinin on Iraqi strain of Leishmania tropica, by experimental macrophage ex vivo infection of amastigotes into mouse macrophage cell-line RAW264.7. Different concentrations (100, 200, 300, 400, 500)μM of artemisinin (ART) were screened to examine the susceptibility of L. tropica amastigotes to invade macrophage cell line along three times of follow up (24, 48 and 72) hours. Results showed that artemisinin had a cytotoxic effect on the parasite in which a significance difference (P < 0.05) in cell viability was observed and IC50 was calculated as 182.6 μM after 48 hours treatment. In addition, percentage of infectivity of intracellular amastigotes was significantly decreased. These findings revealed the potential efficacy of artemisinin against the infectious amastigotes and can be further studied to screen its effectiveness in vivo for exploring a safer herbal compound to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Spinach, Spinacia oleracea L is a popular vegetable belonging to the family Chenopodiaceae. This study was concerned with extraction of compounds in Iraqi spinach leaves, preliminary phytochemical evaluation, identification of two biological important flavonols, quercetin and kaempferol in spinach leaves and evaluation of the protective effect of aqueous spinach extract on methotrexate (MTX) induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The percentage yield of extraction procedure, identification of spinach by chemical tests and identification of flavonols by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were fully described in this study. The results indicate that the percentage of quarce
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to produce AuNPs biologically using Klebsiella pneumoniae and study their synergistic effect with some antibiotics.Technologies of nanoparticles are quick and are employed in many applications in biomedicine. The potential of metallic nanoparticle as an anti-microbial agent is greatly investigated which considered as an alternative method to reduce the challenges of multi-drug resistance microbes. The present study discusses the novel approach to synthesize nanoparticles involving eco-friendly synthesis of gold nanoparticles using Klebsiella pneumoniae and study their effect as antimicrobial spectrum .Also study synergism effect of gold nanoparticles with antibiotic against Acinetobacter baumannii. These approac
... Show MorePanax ginseng (PG), one of the most widely used herbal medicines, has demonstrated various beneficial effects such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer impacts. Naturally occurring ginsenosides in the ginseng plant inhibit cell proliferation and significantly reduce liver damage induced by certain chemicals. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a primary mycotoxin due to its hepatotoxic, immunotoxic, and oncogenic effects in animal models and humans. In this study, we examined the effects of assorted doses of PG aqueous crude extract on the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 1 and 7 (MMP-1 and MMP-7) in the kidney, spleen, and liver of experimental AFB1-exposed mice, using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Mice were orally administered
... Show MoreAbstract The results showed that after treating <italic>C. albicans</italic> with Artemisinin (0.104 mg/ml) for 3 hours the number of <italic>C. albicans</italic> decreased and affected the morphology hyphae and growth of <italic>Candida</italic> compared with Fluconazole (150 mg/ml) and control (infected mice). The biomarker levels in the tongue showed high levels of MDA and TGFβ (623±1.5pg/ml, 586.1±0.13pg/ml respectively) in (infected mice with fungi). IL-37 was recorded high level (49.21±0.21pg/ml) in (Neoral +Fungi + artemisinin + fluconazole) compared with negative control. The finding biomarker levels in stomach showed high levels of MDA and IL-37 (533.8±1.9, 69.76±0.39pg/ml) in (Neor
... Show MoreSphingolipids are key components of eukaryotic membranes, particularly the plasma membrane. The biosynthetic pathway for the formation of these lipid species is largely conserved. However, in contrast to mammals, which produce sphingomyelin, organisms such as the pathogenic fungi and protozoa synthesize inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC) as the primary phosphosphingolipid. The key step involves the reaction of ceramide and phosphatidylinositol catalysed by IPC synthase, an essential enzyme with no mammalian equivalent encoded by the AUR1 gene in yeast and recently identified functional orthologues in the pathogenic kinetoplastid protozoa. As such this enzyme represents a promising target for novel anti-fungal and anti-protozoal drugs. Given
... Show MoreIt is known that the oral administration of ibuprofen caused an irritation of stomach as a side effect due to its carboxylic moiety. Ibuprofen ester was synthesized by linking the carboxylic moiety of ibuprofen and the hydroxylic group of paracetamol to reduce its side effect. Study the kinetic hydrolysis of prepared ester was examined at different values of physiological pH (1.0, 5.8, 6.4 and 7.4) at 37 ± 0.1 of 1 hour period. Measurements of absorbance were carried out by UV-Visible spectrophotometer to follow the stability of ester, it showed Pseudo first order hydrolysis. The pH- apparent rate profiles of ester was exhibited a good stability at pH 1.0 and pH 5.8. Pharmacological activity in vivo of prepared ester was evaluated in re
... Show MoreBackground: Small cardamom or green cardamom is the dried fruit of the tall perennial herbaceous plant, Elettaria cardamomum Maton belonging to the family Zingiberaceae. The major use of small cardamom on world wide is for domestic culinary purpose and in medicine. This study was conducted to test the effect of small cardamom extracts on Mutans streptococci and Candida Albicans in comparison to 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate and de-ionized water in vivo. Materials and Methods: Mutans streptococci and Candid Albicans were isolated, purified and diagnosed according to morphological characteristic and biochemical test. In this experiments, the effect of control agents and small cardamom extracts as a mouth rinses was tested on the saliva
... Show MoreThis study included the isolation and diagnosis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from cases of burns samples. 100 samples were collected from resident patients at Al-Kindi Teaching Hospital, who suffer from different types of burns. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated and diagnosed with 39% of the total samples. The cold and hot aqueous and alcoholic extract of flaxseeds oil was prepared and its inhibitory efficacy has been studied on the growth of isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is revealed that both extracts of flaxseeds oil had a high inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of flaxseed oil on the studied bacteria was also estimated, which was 25 mg/ml. In conclusion, the efficacy of fla
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study is to investigate the histopathological response of dentinopulpal
response of human teeth to the Er: YAG laser cavity preparation in comparison with the conventional
class I cavity preparation. Thirty five sound human upper and lower first premolar teeth which were
needed to be extracted for orthodontic purposes were used in the study. Regarding to the method of
cavity preparation, the teeth were grouped into three groups; Group1; Control group which consists of
seven sound teeth without cavity preparation, Group2; Conventional cavity preparation group and group
3; Er: YAG laser cavity preparation group. Each of Group2 and3 consists of fourteen teeth that is
subdivided into: A. 7teeth that e