Leishmania is one of the protozoan parasites that are transferred to human by infected sand flies and gives rise to a range of diseases entitled as Leishmaniasis. More than 20 known species of Leishmania can infect humans and cause various clinical symptoms. Three most known clinical manifestations are Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL), Mucocutaneous Leishmaniasis (MCL) and Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) (kala-azar or black fever). The difference in the clinical form dependent on several factors: species of Leishmania, type of vector that transmits the Leishmania, and the immune status of an infected individual. The current drugs which are used as anti-leishaminial treatment are characterized by enormous side effects, including their toxicity to human, long term treatment, liver problems and huge cost. Therefore, there is a necessity to find an alternative treatment marked as low cost, more specific against parasite’s stages, and metabolic pathways, and non-toxicity to human. Plants are considered one of the important sources for the remedy of the tropical diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Cymbopogon Citratus (lemon grass) is a herbal medicine used as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-malarial, anti-protozoal and for gastrointestinal problems remedy. In order to detect the effects of C. Citratus against Leishmaniasis, in this study, serial dilution for the essential oil of C.citratus (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5 and 31.25) µg/ml were used against L. donovani Promastigotes. Viability was also evaluated at 24, 48 and 72 hours post-treatment. The results revealed that high concentrations (1000, 500 and 250) µg/ml were more effective than other concentrations during all time intervals, and IC50 values were 640, 492 and 442 µg/ml at 24, 48 and 72 hours respectively. In conclusion, this current study is one of a persistent search to find new treatments characterized by its high activity and low adverse effects to treat protozoa parasites for instance, Leishmania, and displays the effectiveness of the essential oils as a promising alternative
The aims of study is to detect the inhibitory effect of Saccharomyces boulardii and Lactobacillus acidophilus on Escherichia coli that has been isolated from recurrent urinary tract infection in women. The sensitivity of E.coli isolates to antibiotics had been studied and the most resistant E.coli isolate to antibiotics had been studied .The cup assay was used on nutrient agar and Muller-Hinton agar to detect the inhibitory activity for each S.boulardii yeast grown on YEGP media and L.acidophilus grown on MRS media in which the result showed a high inhibition activity for each of them .Also in this study the adhesion property of E.coli had been evaluated in the presence of S.boulardii at concentration of 1×109 and L.acidophilus at conc
... Show MoreBlastocystis is a ubiquitous human and animal protozoa that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Metronidazole is considered the standard drug for the treatment of Blastocystis infection; however, there is growing evidence of treatment failure, hazardous side effects, and appearance of strains resistant to metronidazole. In the last era, many studies have been implicated in the quest for new treatments for Blastocystis infection, especially natural products. Attention has been focused on the effect of Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seed on eradicating parasitic infections. The current work was built up to explore the in vitro efficacy of two natural compounds, Amygdalin (B17) and pumpkin seeds against
... Show MoreBackground: The interest in herbal extracts as antimicrobial agents has increased over the past few years in endodontic therapy. Nasturtium officinale (watercress) is a promising plant with great medicinal values. This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of watercress oil in combination with calcium hydroxide against Candida albicans as intracanal medicament. Materials and Methods: Candida albicans was isolated from patients with necrotic root canal or failed root canal treatment. The sensitivity of Candida albicans to different concentrations of watercress oil extract was determined by using the agar well diffusion method in comparison with calcium hydroxide paste. The agar plate method was used to determine the minimum fung
... Show MoreThis study was conducted with the aim to extract and purify a polyphenolic compound “ Resveratrol†from the skin of black grapes Vitis vinifera cultivated in Iraq. The purified resveratrol is obtained after ethanolic extraction with 80% v/v solution for fresh grape skin, followed by acid hydrolysis with 10% HCl solution then the aglycon moiety was taken with organic solvent
( chloroform). Using silica gel G60 packed glass column chromatography with mobile phase benzene: methanol: acetic acid 20:4:1 a
... Show MoreThis study did the isolation, purification, and identification of the fungus Phytophthora cinnamomi of some infected plants, including Chili pepper, cucumber, and eggplant. The green parts of Pimpinella anisum plant were grounded to a semi-powdered state. Phenols, alkaloids and terpenes were extracted from this plant, then the anti-fungal activity was evaluated at different concentrations of 5% and 10%. The percentage of radial growth inhibition of fungi with plant extracts was measured after seven days of incubation. The results showed that the terpene extract was the most effective against fungi and the alkaloid extract had the least antifungal activity. the percentage of radial growth inhibition was
... Show MoreThe study is designed to evaluate the effect of the aqueous extract of the P. lanceolata plant, as well as to know the effect of the drug CCl4 on the formation of micronucleus in vivo 48 female albino mice. In the study mice were separated into eight groups treated intraperitoneally for seven day first group Negative control, second positive control( CCl4 0.02%), third group aqueous extract (250 mg/kg), fourth group aqueous extract (500 mg/kg), fifth group (CCl4 0.02%) plus aqueous extract (250 mg/kg), sixth group (CCl4 0.02%) plus aqueous extract (500 mg/kg), seventh group aqueous extract (250 mg/kg) plus (CCl4 0.02%), and eighth group aqueous extract (500 mg/kg) plus (CCl4 0.02%). The genetic-cellular asp
... Show MoreMedicinal plant life have performed an integral role in the development of human lifestyle being used as resources for the manufacturing of contemporary medicines, antibiotics. Microorganisms are responsible for many issues in industry and remedy because of biofilm formation. This study aimed to take a look at the results of Thymus vulgaris alcoholic extract on Staphylococcus aureus the causative marketers of acne in human particularly the women. The extract was acquired mixing 25 g of Thyme powder with 350 ml of 80% ethanol for 6 hours at 40°. Antimicrobial activities of the plant extract and integral oil towards the S. aureus were decided using the agar diffusion technique. The consequences proven that special concentrations of alcoholic
... Show MoreCutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) also known under local names like (tropical sore, oriental sore and Baghdad sore) is the most common form of leishmaniasis. It is a public health and a social problem in many developing countries. The Old World disease primarily is caused by Leishmania major in dry desert areas and Leishmania tropica in urban areas. Recently, metal oxide nanoparticales have been versatile platforms for biomedical applications and therapeutic interventions. There is an urgent need to develop new types of antileishmanial agents instead of classical drug (pentostam), especially, when its efficacy showed a decline towards some strains of Leishmania. Therefore, the present work was aimed to evaluating antileishmanial activity of z
... Show MoreThe present study was conducted to determine the optimum conditions required for lipase enzyme activity extracted from germinated sunflower seeds, including temperature, pH, agitation, time of incubation, enzyme concentration, substrate type, and concentrations of mineral salts and EDTA. Optimum pH, temperature and time of incubation required for lipase stability were also determined. The results showede optimum lipase activity (3.251U/ml) wasund at 30 ÌŠC and pH 7 after 20 minutes of incubation when using 1 ml lipase enzyme with 0.02 ml of CaCl2 (10 mM) at 100 rpm of agitation and in the presence of olive oil as the substrate for enzyme reaction. EDTA appeared to have inhibitory effects, while Ca+2 and Mg+2<
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