title: Evaluation of in vitro anti-Leishmanial activity of some brown, green and red algae from the Persian Gulf.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Leishmaniasis is a protozoan parasitic disease which is transmitted by the female Phlebotomus sand fly and is prevalent in four continents.The first-choice treatment for the leishmaniasis is pentavalent antimonials, which are potentially toxic and often ineffective and use of them exhibit therapeutic failure. These pharmaceutical problems point towards the need to develop novel chemotherapeutic agents. Seaweeds are considered as source of bioactive metabolites characterized by a broad spectrum of biological activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this experimental study, cold and hot water crude extracts of four species of green, brown and red marine algae "Caulerpa sertularioides, Gracilaria corticata, Gracillaria salicornia and Sargassum oligocystum" collected along the Bushehr coast of the Persian Gulf (southwest of Iran), prepared and their in vitro activities against Leishmania major promastigote were evaluated by using the MTT assay test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cold and hot water crude extracts of four algae species exhibited different anti-Leishmanial activities. The minimum inhibitory concentration of hot water extracts calculated as IC50 was as follows: Caulerpa sertularioides (IC50 < or =85 microg/ml), Gracilaria corticata (IC50 < or =38 microg/ml), Gracillaria salicornia (IC50 < or =46 microg/ml) and Sargassum oligocystum (IC(50)9 < or =78 microg/ml, while these values for cold water extracts were (IC50 >125 microg/ml) for Caulerpa Sertularioides (IC50 >65 microg/ml) for Gracilaria corticata (IC50 >74 microg/ml) for Gracilaria salicornia and (IC50 >105 microg/ml) for Sargassum oligocystum, IC50 values for reference drug (Amphotericin B) was (0.16-0.2 microg/ml).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to the results, inhibitory effects of the crude extracts from these four species algae specially hot water crude extracts from "Gracilaria corticata, Gracillaria salicornia and Sargassum oligocystum" are significant and in accordance with other studies that has been done on different algae species. So these results are sufficiently promising to be followed with further studies on isolation and characterization of pure compounds from these algae species as well as in vivo experiments, a work that is already under way in our laboratory.
authors.affiliation: The Persian Gulf Research Center for Tropical and Infectious Medicine, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran. mfooladvand39@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fouladvand
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barazesh
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farokhzad
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Malekizadeh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sartavi
mesh_terms: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000737:chemistry; D019156:Indian Ocean; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000187:drug effects*; D000459:Phaeophyceae / Q000737:chemistry; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000461:Rhodophyta / Q000737:chemistry; D012624:Seaweed / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D014867:Water