title: Antileishmanial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of Quercus infectoria Olivier extract.
abstract: Currently, there is no effective vaccine available, and chemotherapy is the main approach for treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). During recent decades, studies have demonstrated that a number of plant-derived compounds may act as new therapeutic tools against leishmaniasis. This study was evaluated the antileishmanial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of Quercus infectoria Olivier (oak) extract. The total amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds was measured in oak extract. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis was also performed to determine the amount of quercetin and gallic acid in this plant. This extract (0-80g/mL) was evaluated in vitro against promastigote and intracellular amastigote forms of Leishmania major (MRHO/IR/75/ER) using MTT assay and in a macro-phage model, respectively. Then oak extract was tested on CL in infected male BALB/c mice with L. major in order to evaluate the antileishmanial activity topically. Moreover, cytotoxicity effects of oak in murine macrophage cells were tested by MTT assay. Antioxidative activity of oak was also determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1,1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging test. The amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in the oak extract was 57.50 and 1.86%, respectively. The amount of quercetin and gallic acid in the oak extract was 0.0064 and 0.22%, respectively. The findings revealed that oak significantly (P<0.05) inhibited the growth rate of promastigote of (IC50 12.65μg/mL) and amastigotes (IC50 10.31μg/mL) as a dose-dependent response. In the in vivo assay, after 4 weeks of treatment, 91.6, 66.66, and 50% recovery was observed in the infected mice treated with 20, 10, and 5mg/kg of oak extract, respectively. After treatment of the infected mice with the concentration of 10 and 20mg/kg of oak, the mean diameter of lesions, parasite load and mean number of parasites was significantly (P<0.05) reduced. Selectivity index of greater than 10 for oak revealed that oak extract had no cytotoxic effects on macrophage cells. Moreover, DPPH test demonstrated that radical inhibition occurred at greater power with increasing the concentration of oak. To conclude, the present study showed potent antileishmanial and antioxidant activity of oak extract; whereas this plant had no toxic effect on mammalian cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan, University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 381351698, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Farnaz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kheirandish
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 381351698, Khorramabad, Iran. Electronic address: bdelfan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delfan
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan, University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 381351698, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mahmoudvand
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan, University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 381351698, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moradi
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan, University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 381351698, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Behrouz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ezatpour
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Health and Nutrition, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 381351698, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Farzad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ebrahimzadeh
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Marzieh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rashidipour
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000494:pharmacology; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D017737:Macrophages, Peritoneal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008536:Meglumine / Q000494:pharmacology; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010636:Phenols / Q000494:pharmacology; D010851:Picrates / Q000494:pharmacology; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D029963:Quercus / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D005419:Flavonoids; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D010636:Phenols; D010851:Picrates; D010936:Plant Extracts; D008536:Meglumine; C004931:1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
keywords: Cutaneous leishmaniasis; DPPH; Leishmania major; Macrophage; Mice; Oak