Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease in tropical countries, including Iraq. Several studies have sought to examine chemotherapies for leishmaniasis treatment but most of them are of toxic and/or undesirable side effect, therefore, the need for investigating new fewer toxic therapies is essential. Aim of study: In this study, the cytotoxic effect of Artemisinin (ART), a novel herbal compound, was screened against the two forms, promastigotes and amastigotes, of the Iraqi isolate of Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of Baghdad boil. Material and methods: Different concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6 and 7.8) µM of Artemisinin were screened to investigate the leishmanicidal activity of th

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease in tropical countries, including Iraq. Several studies have sought to examine chemotherapies for leishmaniasis treatment but most of them are of toxic and/or undesirable side effect, therefore, the need for investigating new fewer toxic therapies is essential. Aim of study: In this study, the cytotoxic effect of Artemisinin (ART), a novel herbal compound, was screened against the two forms, promastigotes and amastigotes, of the Iraqi isolate of Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of Baghdad boil. Material and methods:  Different concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6 and 7.8) µM of Artemisinin were screened to investigate the leishmanic

Visceral leishmaniosis is one of the most fatal old-world neglected disease with estimated 90 thousand worldwide cases emerge each year. In Iraq, the cutaneous and visceral form are endemic but available chemotherapies are either toxic with diverse side effects, expensive available drugs or parasite …

Although several drugs are used against Leishmania infection but they are associated with several adverse complications. Therefore, a new effective treatment needed to be found. In this study, the effect of carbonnanotubes nanoparticles (CNTs NPs) on Leishmania donovani promastigotes was assessed. Viability of promastigotes after adding different concentrations of carbonnanotubes (CNTs) nanoparticles (0.05, 0.1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80 μg/ml) to the parasite culture was evaluated by growth rate, viability rate assay and morphological changes. The results indicated that the effect of CNTs NPs on growth rate of promastigotes form. After exposed to 80 μg/ml of CNTs, the growth rate of promastigotes clearly decreased compared with promast

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

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

         Seventy five E. coli isolates were collected from urine of patients with urinary tract infections in AL-Kadhimia and AL-Yarmook teaching hospitals in Baghdad for a period between 22/11/2009 to 15/3/2010,  from these samples twenty five isolates were selected according to their pattern of the highest resistance as these showing multi-drug resistances and tested to specify their minimum inhibitory concentration for (meropenem, gentamicin and amikacin), meropenem was found having the lowest MIC comparing with others. This study also includes in vitro effects of various combinations of three types of antimicrobials (meropenem, gentamicin and amikacin) against twenty five E. c

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is one of the most economically important species of the family Lamiaceae. Rosemary extract was examined by applying 2.2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging assays. The result proved that rosemary extract had a higher antioxidant activity by absorption at a wavelength of 517a nm by using three different concentrations (0.5, 1.0 and 3) mg/ml which performed the absorbance at (2. 314, 0. 211 and 0.296) nm in comparison with control (21.8, 92.2 and 90) nm respectively. Results obtained using chemical detection of the phytochemicals indicated the presence of flavonoids, phenols, saponins, Steroids and cardiac in rosemary water extract. Water extracts of R. officinalis leaves were inves

Leishmaniasis is a widespread parasitic disease caused by Leishmania parasite, this disease considers a major health problem among worldwide. Treatments available are expensive or with cytotoxic side effect. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of an herbal new compound, called artemisinin, derived from a Chinese plant called Artemisia annua. Various concentrations were studied in vitro against L. tropica amastigotes by chamber counting to investigate its effect on the proliferation of promastigotes. Three incubation periods were adopted (24, 48, 72) hours. The results showed a significant decrease in surviving promastigotes, in parallel with the normal parasite count of untreated promastigotes, along the periods studied. This stu

Leishmaniasis is a worldwide disease still treated with expensive compounds that present severe side effects, and are frequently ineffective emphasizing the importance to search effective compounds against this disease. Miltefosine drug (HePC) that used as antitumor agent has been used against Leishmania tropica in two forms promastigote and axenic amastigote in vitro conditions. Different concentrations (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 μM) of HePC were performed and exposed to both parasite forms in comparison to sodium stibogluconate (Sb) drug. Parasites viability then was determined using MTT assay after 12, 24, and 48hr of exposure. DNA was extracted from treated and untreated parasites after 48hr of exposure and qualitative analysis of th