in vitro and in vivo effects of astragalus ecbatanus extract against cutaneous leishmaniasis

Given the distinctive characteristics of astragalus in the treatment of diseases and strengthening the immune system, for the first time, this study tried to study the in vitro and in vivo leishmanicidal effects of chloroform extract of a. ecbatanus (aece) on leishmania major. the in vitro activity was determined against promastigote and amastigote forms of l. major (mhom/af/88/kk27). in addition, the effect of aece on induction nitric oxide (no) and the level of macrophage infectivity rate were evaluated. in vivo, antileishmanial effects of topical administration of aece at 10 and 20 mg/kg were evaluated on cutaneous leishmaniasis in mice. the 50% inhibitory concentrations (ic50) index of aece and amphotericin b for promastigotes were 76.3 and 2.78 μg/ml, respectively. the number of amastigotes dose-dependently decreased after treatment with aece. the ic50 and 50% cytotoxic concentrations (cc50) for aece were 39.4 and 408.3 µg/ml, respectively. the extract prompted the no creation, while, diminished the level of macrophage infection. followed by four weeks of aece therapy, lesions of cl were healed in the infected mice. the number of the amastigote forms of leishmania in the cl lesions was also considerably decreased after aece therapy of the infected mice (p<0.05). these findings reported the considerable effects of aece in inhibiting and eliminating leishmania in vivo and in vitro. even though we indicated some cellular mechanisms of aece, e.g. reducing the infectivity rate and induction of no production against leishmania parasites, further experiments are essential to identify the specific mechanisms of action, safety, and its ability principally in animals and human subjects.