title: Antileishmanial activity of Ferula assa-foetida oleo gum resin against Leishmania major: An in vitro study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Ayurveda, asafetida is introduced as a valuable remedy for flatulence, hysteria, nervous disorders, whooping cough, pneumonia and bronchitis in children and also considered as an aphrodisiac agent. Presently, Leishmaniasis is common in most countries of the world and is a serious health problem in the world. Some plant medicines and natural products have a new candidate for treatment of leishmaniasis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was designed to evaluate Ferula assa-foetida oleo gum resin (asafetida) on mortality and morbidity Leishmania major in vitro.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mostigotes were isolated from mice spleens and then transformed to promastigotes in Novy-Nicolle-Mac Neal (NNN medium supplemented with penicillin (100 U/ml), streptomycin (100 μg/ml) and 20% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS) at 25°C. A fixed initial density of the parasites was transferred to screw-capped vials containing 5 ml of RPMI1640 media to which different concentrations of 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 μg asafetida were added and each concentration was done in triplicates. Each run also included control. The mortality of parasitoids was measured by the slide and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 72 h, asafetida inhibited growth of parasites in all doses in stationary and logarithmic phases. The ELISA measurement suggested that the viability of parasites significantly decreased after 48h (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show that asafetida could prevent from growth and viability of parasites and this oleo gum resin can be useful for treatment of leishmaniasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitoloy, Shahid Sadoghi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali Fatahi
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Bafghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Shahid Sadoghi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyyed Majid
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bagheri
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Shahid Sadoghi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Hassan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hejazian
keywords: Asafetida; Ferula assa-foetida; Leishmania major; antileishmanial effect