Background & objectives: The leishmaniases are considered among the major infectious diseases affecting public health in several regions. There are many chemical agents which are effective in treatment of visceral leishmaniasis. But, overall treatment of visceral leishmaniasis is often difficult. Thus, identification of new chemotherapeutic agents is important for treatment of disease. Since targeting of the ergosterol synthesis pathway of Leishmania may be useful therapeutically, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of alone or in combination of amiodarone and ketoconazole on Leishmania infantum.

  Methods : To obtain logarithmic promastigotes of L. infantum, the parasites were cultured in BHI medium with FCS 10% together with antibiotics of penicillin and streptomycin and incubated at 24° C. Amastigote forms were obtained in BHI medium supplemented with 20% FCS at pH of 5.5 which incubated in 37° C. L.infantum susceptibility to amiodarone and ketoconazole was evaluated by proliferation of parasites in the absence or presence of these drugs with MTT assay. For evaluation of antiproliferative synergism against promastigotes and axenic amastigotes, fractional inhibitory concentrations (FIC) were calculated. An isobologram curve was constructed too.

  Results: Amiodarone produced a marked reduction in the viability of L.infantum promastigotes and axenic amastigotes. On the other hand ketoconazole induced a dose dependent effect on the parasites proliferation for promastigotes and axenic amastigotes. When the drugs were used in combination, the results indicated clear synergistic as shown by a concave isobologram and FIC value.

  Conclusion: The present study represents the evidence that the combination of amiodarone plus ketoconazole acts synergistically in controlling L. infantume in vitro. It is possible that amiodarone could be used in combination with ketoconazole to combat infection at low doses, thus reducing its side effects such as cardiotoxicity, thyroid dysfunction and pulmonary fibrosis.

Background & objectives: One of the most important zoonotic parasitic diseases, hydatidosis, is caused by the larval stage of Echinococcous granulosus. Investigations have shown that plants secondary metabolites, such as essential oils have anti parasitic properties. Based on previous reports on antiparasitic properties of Lepidium sativum, in this study we investigated the scolicidal effects of the essential oil (EO) extracted from this plant.

Methods: Lepidium EO was obtained by hydrodistillation method. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed to determine the chemical composition of the EO. Protoscolices were exposed to various concentrations of EO (1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 mg/ml) for 10, 20, 30 and 60 min. Viability of protoscolices was confirmed by 0.1% eosin staining.

Results: A total of 19 compounds representing 95.5% of the total oil, were identified. α-Thujene (88.86%), Myrcene (2.9%) and P-cymene (1.67%) were found to be the major EO constituents. Based on the results, protoscolices mortality rates at 1, 3 and 5 mg/ml of EO didn’t have a significant relationship with the control group. While, the difference in mortality rate at a concentration of 10 mg/ml of EO in 30 and 60 min was significant. Also, the concentration of 15 mg/ml of EO at all times of incubation had significantly higher protoscolicidal effect. In the present study there was a significant relation between the amount of protoscolicidal activity of different EO concentrations and different incubation times. In other words mortality rates enhanced with increasing concentrations and incubation times.

Conclusion: The results of present study revealed that the EO of Lepidium is rich in α-Thujene and has a high scolicidal power. This plant may be used as a natural scolicidal agent