title: Antileishmanial activities of caffeic acid phenethyl ester loaded PLGA nanoparticles against Leishmania infantum promastigotes and amastigotes in vitro.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate and compare the antileishmanial effects of CAPE and (CAPE)PLGA NPson Leishmania infantum (L. infantum) promastigotes and amastigotes in vitro.
  
  
  METHODS
  Efficacies of CAPE, (CAPE)PLGA NPsand free PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) on promastigotes were evaluated using MTT and promastigote count assays, and their anti-amastigote effects were determined via infection index analysis. Griess reaction was also performed to calculate nitric oxide production of macrophages exposed to investigated molecules.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was determined that CAPE and (CAPE)PLGA NPsdemonstrated significant inhibitory effects on L. infantum promastigotes and amastigotes, while free NPs did not exhibit any meaningful antileishmanial effectiveness. The IC50values of CAPE for L. infantum promastigotes and amastigotes were assessed as (51.0 ± 0.8) and (19.0 ± 1.4) μg/mL, respectively (P < 0.05). On the other side, it was revealed that (CAPE)PLGA NPshad superior antileishmanial activity on both forms of parasites since its IC50values for L. infantum promastigotes and amastigotes were (32.0 ± 1.3) and (8.0 ± 0.9) μg/mL, respectively (P < 0.05). It was also determined that both agents strongly stimulated nitric oxide production of macrophages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The obtained results show that (CAPE)PLGA NPshave a great potential to be especially used in treatment of visceral leishmaniasis; however, in vivo antileishmanial screening of these molecules should be performed in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Bioengineering Department, Yildiz Technical University, Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: esabamor@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Emrah Sefik
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Abamor
keywords: Antileishmanial; CAPE; Leishmania; Nanoparticles; PLGA