The Effects of Prednisolone and Mometasone on Wound Healing Caused by Leishmania Major in Balb/c Mice

An effective vaccine against leishmaniasis is not available, and chemotherapy is the only effective way to treat all forms of the disease. However, current therapy is toxic and expensive, and the resistance has emerged as a serious problem, which has compelled the search for new antileishmanial agents such as glucocorticoids. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prednisolone and mometasone on the improvement of cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice.

In this experimental study, 60 female Balb/c mice were used. The promastigote form obtained from the culture medium was injected into the mice's tail base. After the creation of wound, the mice were divided into 6 treatment groups of prednisolone, prednisolone and amphotericin B, mometasone, mometasone and amphotericin B, positive control (amphotericin B), and negative control (phosphate buffered saline or PBS). The duration of treatment was 28 days. The lesion diameter was measured at the end of each week.

After the end of the treatment period, significant reduction was observed in wound size and parasite load in the spleen in the two groups treated with prednisolone and prednisolone combined with amphotericin B (P < 0.050).

According to the findings of the study, it seems that glucocorticoids likely prevent chronic disease, and accelerate wound healing by regulating immune pathways.