An in vitro study of antileishmanial effect of Portulaca oleracea extract

• Published in: Journal of vector borne diseases 2016-10, Vol.53 (4), p.362-369
• Main Authors: Eskandari, Elham, Doudi, Monir, Abedi, Saeid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiprotozoal Agents - isolation & purification; Antiprotozoal Agents - pharmacology; Bacteria; Care and treatment; Caryophyllidae; Cell Survival - drug effects; Colorimetry - methods; Developing countries; Drugs; Flavonoids; Flowers & plants; Formazans - analysis; Health aspects; Infectious diseases; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Iran; Laboratories; LDCs; Leishmania major - drug effects; Leishmania major; Leishmaniasis; MTT; Portulaca oleracea; purslane; Leishmaniasis; Parasites; Parasitic diseases; Parasitic Sensitivity Tests; Plant extracts; Plant Extracts - isolation & purification; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Portulaca - chemistry; Potassium; Spectrophotometry; Studies; Tetrazolium Salts - analysis; Tropical diseases
• ISSN: 0972-9062
• DOI: 10.4103/0972-9062.197271

Background & objectives: Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoa of Leishmania genus and is considered as a zoonotic disease. It is a major public health problem worldwide, with high endemicity in developing countries like Iran. Various chemical drugs are used for leishmaniasis treatment, but their side-effects and the emergence of drug resistance have led to look for new effective compounds. The aim of this study was to introduce purslane (Portulaca oleracea) as a traditional and medicinal herb which might act as a valuable source for designing new pharmaceutical drug/lead against Leishmania sp. Methods: This study was conducted in the laboratory of Seddigheh Tahereh Infectious Disease Research Center, Isfahan, Iran during the spring of 2015. The essence from the purslane plant was prepared through water distillation and the alcoholic extract was prepared through maceration method. The essence was dried, and diluted with DMSO (5%). Leishmania major promastigotes were cultured in 25 ΁ 2΀C temperature in the stationary phase of RPMI-1640 medium, enriched with 10% fetal calf serum and penicillin-streptomycin to yield higher quantity. The biological activity of herb essence was evaluated on L. major promastigotes and compared to glucantime reference drug using methylthiazole tetrazolium (MTT) colorometric assay. The optical density absorbance was measured with Eliza reader set, and the IC50 value was calculated at different time intervals. All tests were repeated thrice. Results were analyzed by using Tukey test and t-test. Results: The IC50 values after 48 h, for glucantime against standard parasite promastigotes and clinical strains were equal to 12 and 19 mg/ml, respectively, whereas for purslane herb leaves and stems essence; it was equal to 360 and 680 mg/ml, respectively. Although, the glucantime pharmaceutical drug was more efficient compared to the investigated herb essence, the essense had significant effect on L. major promastigotes with increasing density (p