Leishmaniosis is a tropical neglected parasitic disease that is endemic in many countries, including Middle East, with no existing effective vaccines. The bite of female sand-fly transmits the causative agent, Leishmania spp., to humans. High toxicity, resistance and treatment failure of the available chemotherapy against visceral leishmaniosis demands the investigation of new anti-leishmanial compounds. Lupeol is a form of triterpene isolated from several medicinal plants and possesses an antimicrobial property. In this study, cytotoxic effect of lupeol was screened against the mammalian amastigotes form and insect promastigote form of Leishmania donovani, following three cycles of incubation at different concentrations by MTT assay. Resul

This study has evaluated the humoral immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani along (4) times of follow up (15, 30, 60, 90) days after infection. Indirect haemagglutination test was used to determine the antibody titer through the various stages of the study. Also the progress of the infection was studied depending on some of the visceral changes caused by the parasite, like weight of liver, length & weight of spleen & the count of Leishmania parasites in spleen were measured. Results has shown that there was an increase in antibody titer & the maximum value was recorded at the 4th day of follow up (90 days after infection) as well as that there was an increase in the length of the spleen, weight

Leishmania is auxotroph to folic acid,antifolates drug inhibit the synthesis and conversion of folate derivatives. In this study, cytotoxic effect of methotrexate was investigated on the procyclic promastigotes proliferation of L. donovani. The results showed a significant (p ≥ 0.05) difference in growth of treated groups at high concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125.5) μM after 24, 48 hrs., while at 72 hrs. significant difference was observed at all concentration. The IC50 values was measurable after 24, 48 and 72 hrs. and it was 174.238, 52.283 and 109.175 μM, respectively. The present study showed the cytotoxic effect of methotrexate on the proliferation of promastigotes of the visceral type of Leishmania.

In the current study, different concentrations of miltefosine drug, which is the first effective and safe oral treatment for visceral leishmaniasis, was evaluated against L. donovani promastigotes in comparison with pentosam drug. Direct counting microscopic assay was used to find 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of miltefosine and pentostam against L. donovani promastigotes. The IC50 of miltefosine drug was 45.42μg/ml, 46.76μg/ml and 36.68μg/ml after 24 hr, 48hr and 72hr respectively, In comparison with IC 50 of pentostam drug was 75.39 μg/ml after 72hr. There were significant differences (P˂0.05) between IC50 values of miltefosine and pentostam drugs from first day to third day.

Hypertension is a cardiovascular problem with high rates of epidemiology and risks of morbidity and mortality in the global area. Nitric oxide (NO) is one of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) that produced from L-arginine by nitric oxide synthase (NOS) enzyme. NO involves in various vital processes in human health, one of which is the modulation of vasoconstriction and relaxation of the vascular system. We have aimed to investigate the link between NO and NOS with hypertension in women. The relationship between NO and NOS, as well as the usefulness of them as indicators of hypertension risks were subjects of study in this article. The results have revealed that hypertensive women had significant (P<0.05) lower levels of NO (15.07±3.41 IU/m

The Evaluation of the immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani was determined in this study, particularly, the cellular immune response. Follow up has maintained to determine the Delayed Type of Hypersensitivity using skin test both in infected and control lab animals. Chicken red blood cells were used as a parameter to evaluate the immune system; they are dull and have the ability of immunization. Two concentrations of chicken R.B.C were examined to determine which gives the higher titration in Hamsters and those were 1.5 X 109 cell/ml and 3 X 109 cell/ml , the second concentration gave the maximum titration where then used in this work. After sensitization with Chicken R.B.C for both in

The Evaluation of the immune response in Golden Hamsters experimentally infected with Leishmania donovani was determined in this study, particularly, the cellular immune response. Follow up has maintained to determine the Delayed Type of Hypersensitivity using skin test both in infected and control lab animals. Chicken red blood cells were used as a parameter to evaluate the immune system; they are dull and have the ability of immunization. Two concentrations of chicken R.B.C were examined to determine which gives the higher titration in Hamsters and those were 1.5 X 109 cell/ml and 3 X 109 cell/ml , the second concentration gave the maximum titration where then used in this work. After sensitization with Chicken R.B.C for both infected a

Leishmaniasis is endemic ofIraq in both cutaneous and visceral form. The available tools for diagnosis and detection of Leishmaniaare nonspecific and may interfere with other species. In this study, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has been used to identify Iraqi isolate of visceral leishmaniasis (MHOM/ IQ/2005/MRU15) which a previously diagnosed by classical serological tests. PCR amplificationwas carried out using species-specific primers of Leishmania donovani. Four primer pairs of mini-circle DNA and ITS-1 were used.13A/13B, which is used to identify Leishmaniaas a genus, NM12, LITSR/L5.8S and BHUL18S, were used to detect the sub species of L. donovani.The result ofPCR

It was recorded that Terpinen-4-ol has an anti-parasitic properties, so it will be noteworthy to intensify the studies about this compound.

This study aims to test the effectiveness of terpinen-4-ol on amastigote forms of Leishmania parasite in macrophages.

This effect was studied by adding increasing concentrations  of  Terpinen-4-ol to  culture wells containing mouse macrophages that were previously incubated with the promastigote forms of the parasites for 24 hours .Then, they were incubated for another 24 hours with increasing concentrations of Terpinen-4-ol.  After, Parasites were enumerated into macrophages in wells either treated with Terpinen-4-ol or in control wells.

Treatment with Ter