Leishmaniasis is an endemic disease in Iraq, where both forms of the disease, cutaneous and visceral, are found. The effect of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) with mean particle size less than 100 nanometer (nm) on viability and growth rate of Leishmania donovani promastigotes was evaluated. The anti-leishmanial activity of different concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1 μg/ml) of ZnO NPs was investigated on promastigotes growth rates and viability in comparison to promastigotes exposed to the same concentrations of sodium stibogluconate (Sb) (pentostam).The inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of ZnO NPs were calculated after 24 , 48 and 72 hr which were (0.871, 0.156 and 0.120 μg/ml) respectively with significant (p< 0.05

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.

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

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a disseminated protozoan infection caused by Leishmania donovani parasites which affects almost half a million persons annually. Classical diagnosis methods of VL still not very sensitive and time consuming. In this study, we reported the success of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to identify L. donovani based on kinetoplast deoxyribonucleic acid (kDNA) for the diagnosis of the parasite using in vitro promastigote cultures. LdI species - specific primer was used to identify L. donovani and the result showed a single band of about ~600bp. It can be recommended that this primer is to be used for detection the visceral L. donovani.

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 …

    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 enormou

Abstract

Lack of safe available non-resistant treatment for visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) keeps limiting the complete cure of this disease ,drugs that have  toxic side effects or lack of effectiveness  have led to disease relapse ,all these factors have lightened  the way to the search for imperative drugs from natural resources that have been shown to have antileishmanial activity through literature survey

. In the present study, the comparative in vitro anti-leishmania activity of various fractions of Osteospermum ecklonis aerial parts fractions have been evaluated. Extracts were prepared through maceration and Soxhlet apparatus using 85% meth

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is the most form of leishmaniasis disease prevalent in Iraq. CL remains a public health problem in numerous endemic countries because of the absence of safe, effective, and high-cost drugs for treatment. Macrophages are the main inhabitant cell for Leishmania; they phagocyte and allow parasite multiplying. Phagocytosis and anti-leishmanial activity of macrophage are the main factors in the elimination of Leishmania parasites. Phagosome-resident amastigotes also evade innate host defense mechanisms. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have an important effect in stimulating the production of oxygen species. The objective of this study was to examine macrophages cytotoxicity upon exposure to L. tropica and Ag NPs. Se

      Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), the second-most-serious parasitic illness after malaria, is currently endemic in more than 88 countries. Need for new anti-leishmanial compounds is currently being taken into consideration by researchers due to resistance and lack of effective vaccinations. This research was conducted to find out more about the effect of artemisinin (ART). ART was examined in vitro promastigotes stages and ex vivo amastigotes stages of the Iraqi strain of Leishmania donovani in U937 cell line after 24, 48 and 27 hours using MTT assay. In addition, the level of macrophage nitric oxide (NO) was measured using Griess assay in U937 cell line. The results of promastigotes viability percentage