The effect of garlic extract on Leishmania major Amastigotes: in vitro and in vivo studies

In respect to leishmaniasis prevalence in different regions of Iran and world and also several side effects of pentavalent antimony for treatment of the disease, using of medicinal plants have been recently taken into attention. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of garlic plant extract on L. major amastigotes in vivo and in vitro by means of colorimetric assay. L.major (MRHO/IR/75/ER) were transferred to RPMI-1640 medium, supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) and antibiotics then grown at 25±2°C. In plateau phase of parasite growth, effect of different concentrations of garlic plant extract in comparison to control drug, tartar emetic, on L.major amastigotes were assessed by means of MTT assay in vivo and in vitro. The optical density (OD) due to reduction of the tetrazolium salt MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) to a colored product formazan by the parasite was measured by ELISA reader and the IC50 values (50% inhibitory concentrations) were further measured. All experiments were repeated in triplicate. Gained data from OD and IC50 showed that concentrations of 4.6 µg/ml and 11.4 µg/ml of garlic extract in comparison to control drug after incubation of 48 hours in vivo and in vitro respectively have inhibitory effect on amastigotes of L.major. In respect to profound anti-leishmania effect of garlic medicinal plant on L.major, further experiments are required to evaluate the effect of this extract on Leishmania parasite in animal models and voluntary individuals.