Enhancement effect of Shark Cartilage extract on treatment of Leishmania infantum with Artemisinin and Glucantime and evaluation of killing factors and apoptosis in vitro condition

In this study we examined enhancement effects of Artemisinin plus Glucantime and shark cartilage extract, on promastigotes and amastigotes of L.infantum in in vitro condition.The toxicity of artemisinin, glucantime and shark cartilage extract on the L. infantum promastigotes and amastigote-infected macrophages was evaluated using MTT assay. The role of these drugs in inducing apoptosis in promastigotes and parasite-infected macrophages was also studied. Using promastigote assay, IC50 values of artemisinin and glucantime as stand alone drugs as well as in combination were obtained to be 50, 400 and 100µg/ml respectively. The flow cytometry analysis of apoptotic promastigotes stained with Annexin-V FITC staining showed that artemisinin, glucantime, artemisinin plus glucantime, artemisinin plus shark cartilage extract and shark cartilage extract applied at their IC50 concentrations resulted in 53.5%, 73.92%, 64.46%, 49.9% and 47.34% apoptosis respectivelyThe results of MTT assay indicated that cytotoxicity of artemisinin, glucantime, artemisinin plus glucantime, shark cartilage plus artemisinin and shark cartilage in infected macrophages after 72hrs was 75%,84%,82%,30% and 3% respectively. In non- infected macrophages, cytotoxicity of Artemisinin, Glucantime, Artemisinin plus Glucantime and shark cartilage was 15%, 31%, 21%,2% and 0% respectively.This study suggests that artemisinin, glucantime, artemisinin plus glucantime and shark cartilage extract have significant killing effects on promastigotes and amastigotes. Also, it proved that artimisinin alone and in combination with glucantime and shark cartilage extract has little toxic effect on macrophages, but could induce apoptosis in L.infantum promastigotes and amastigote-infected macrophages Thus these chemicals can be used as alternative drugs for in vivo studies.