Antileishmanial activity of conventional and solid lipid nanoparticles of Amphotericin B on Leishmania major

BACKGROUND: Obligate intracellular parasites of Leishmania genus belong to family Trypanosomatidae and more than twenty species causes this neglected vector-borne infection throughout the globe. The current study was aimed to assess the antileishmanial activity of Amphotericin B (AmB) and AmB formulated into solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) in vitro and in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present research, microemulsification and high shear homogenization methods were used to prepare SLNs. Leishmania major (L. major) promastigotes were cultured in RPMI 1640 and incubated for three time points of 24, 48 and 72 h at 25±1°C. Then, the MTT colorimetric assay was employed for obtaining of 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50). Finally, we evaluated the efficacy of AmB and AmB-SLN for the treatment of experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in BALB/c mice. RESULTS: The average diameter sizes of prepared AmB-SLN were <180 nm and monodisperse preparations with polydispersity index 0.21±0.29. The antileishmanial activity of AmB and AmB-SLN revealed a dose and time-dependent manner in vitro. The IC50 values of AmB (38.18±1.33, 25.06±2.00, and 13.87±0.61 μg/ml) and AmB-SLN (0.40±0.02, 0.26±0.02, and 0.14±0.01 μg/ml) were estimated after 24, 48 and 72 hours, respectively. In all BALB/c treatment groups, the diameter of lesions were significantly smaller than the control group. CONCLUSION: Discovery of new effective drugs based on nanocarriers, such as SLN, is practical and opens a new window for the treatment of CL. More studies are needed in the future.