Topical effectiveness of different concentrations of nanosilver solution on Leishmania major lesions in Balb/c mice

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an infection caused by protozoan genus Leishmania. Although glucantime is commonly used for the treatment of leishmaniasis, it has some side effects including increased liver enzymes and electrocardiogram changes. In addition, the drug is expensive, the injection is painful, and research shows that resistance of parasite to glucantime is growing in different parts of the world. Therefore, scientists are paying more attention to develop new drugs such as nanosilver solution. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the in vivo topical effects of different concentrations of nanosilver solution in the treatment of leishmaniasis lesions.

In all, 90 female Balb/c mice aged 6-8 wk were infected with 2×10 power 6 viable stationary-phase promastigotes in the base of tail. Different concentrations (60, 80, 120, 130 and 2000 ppm) nanosilver solution were used in the present study to test the efficacy in the treatment of lesions. Clinical control of the infection trends was conducted weekly for 5 wk by measuring lesion diameter with standard Kulis-Vernieh. Data were analyzed by paired t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey test.

Mean lesion diameter pre- and post-treatment did not significantly differ between different treatment groups (p >0.05). Likewise, a significant difference in splenic parasite load was also not observed between different treatment groups.

Based on our results, different concentrations of nanosilver are ineffective in reducing mean sizes of lesions.