Inhibition of murine systemic leishmaniasis by acetyl salicylic acid via nitric oxide immunomodulation

The purpose of this study was to evaluate antileishmanial effects of ASA via NO pathway in Leishmania major infected Balb/c mice. Moreover, toxicity and pathological consequences of ASA administration were investigated. Balb/c mice were infected with L. major and ASA was inoculated orally after lesion appearance for its ability to modulate NO and to modify Leishmania infection in host, in order to evaluate the effects of NO production on size and lesion macroscopy, delay of lesion formation and proliferation of amastigotes inside macrophages. Liver, spleen, and lymph nodes were also studied as target organs to detect amastigotes. In addition, plasma was investigated for NO induction using Griess microassay. ASA increased NO production in plasma of both na‹ve and Leishmania test groups at the ultimate of the experimental period. A decline was observed in proliferation of amastigotes inside macrophages of test group when compared with control one. ASA reduced lesion size, inhibited Leishmania visceralisation in spleen, lymph node, and decreased hepato/splenomegaly in ASA treated animals. Some antileishmanial effects of ASA by NO-modulation were indicated during systemic leishmaniasis in mice. Despite slight effects on lesion size, ASA decreased parasite visceralization in target organs and declined their proliferation inside macrophages. Therefore, ASA may be indicated to inhibit systemic leishmaniasis via NO pathway in mice model

Introduction of an indirect haemagglutination test as a rapid diagnostic method in comparison with ELISA using antigen B for diagnosis of human hydatid disease

Early diagnosis of human hydatid disease by detecting the specific antibodies in patients' sera is considered as an important step in treatment of infection. But the diagnostic efficiencies of assays greatly depend on the characteristics of antigen that is used and various conditions in performance. In present study, we tried to st and ardize an indirect haemagglutination test, using antigen B for diagnosis of hydatid disease. Sera from 80 patients with surgically confirmed hydatidosis and 40 sera from healthy donors were examined. To detect the cross-reactant antibodies, 53 sera from patients with other parasitic infectious and diseases were applied in this study. IHA was performed with sheep RBC that was sensitized by various concentrations of crude antigen and antigen B. The best results were obtained by IHA with applying antigen B [10 micro g/ml] for 40 min at 37°C or 60 min at room temperature. Diagnostic value of antigen B [sensitivity 93.75%, specificity 100% and efficiency 97.12%] was significantly higher than related value of crude antigen [sensitivity 65%, specificity 100% and efficiency 83.81%] in IHA under the optimum condition. Sensitivity and specificity of ELISA using crude antigen [10 micro g/ml] were obtained 80% and 94.62%, respectively. Corresponding values of ELISA using antigen B were also obtained as 72.5% and 98.92%, respectively. It is suggested that the IHA, as a serological assay, is a valuable method with high diagnostic efficiency for serodiagnosis of hydatid disease, when is performed by purified antigen B. It is a rapid diagnostic assay with any needs neither for expensive instruments nor expert personnel so is useful for seroepidemiological studies and field trial in endemic areas