Protective efficacy of Chlorophytum borivilianum root extract against murine visceral leishmaniasis by immunomodulating the host responses

ABSTRACT

Background: The available drugs for treating visceral leishmaniasis are limited. Moreover, the disease isassociated with suppression of immune function. Therefore, therapies with effective immunomodulatoryagents are needed which can decrease parasitic burden and enhance adaptive immunity.Objectives: The present study was planned to evaluate the antileishmanial efficacy of crude ethanolicextract of roots of Chlorophytum borivilianum (CBREE) against murine visceral leishmaniasis throughimmunomodulation.Materials and methods: The in vitro studies were carried out to check leishmanicidal activity againstpromastigote form and cytotoxicity against HeLa cells. The parasite load in liver smears, immunologicaland biochemical changes induced by 500 and 1000 mg/kg b.wt. of CBREE were assessed on 1, 7, 14 and 21post treatment days in infected and treated BALB/c mice.Results: CBREE showed inhibitory effect on growth of promastigotes with IC50 of 28.25 mg/mL andnegligible cytotoxicity. The extract was toxicologically safe in BALB/c mice when administered orally with5 g/kg b.wt. of extract. A significant reduction in parasite load was observed along with active immunomodulation through enhanced Th1 type of immune responses and suppressed Th2 type of immuneresponses.Conclusion: The treatment with both doses showed no toxic effect as evidenced by normal liver andkidney function tests and normal histological observations of liver and kidney. Therefore, it should befurther explored for its active components in pursuit of the new effective antileishmanial agents in theplant kingdom.© 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Publishing Services byElsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).