TY - JOUR
T1 - An ethanolic extract of leaves of Piper betle (Paan) Linn mediates its antileishmanial activity via apoptosis
AU - Sarkar, Avijit
AU - Sen, Rupashree
AU - Saha, Piu
AU - Ganguly, Sudipto
AU - Mandal, Goutam
AU - Chatterjee, Mitali
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements This work received financial assistance from the Life Sciences Research Board, Defense Research Development Organization, the University Grants Commission, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. RS, SG, and GM are recipients of Senior Research fellowships from Lavanya Prova Bose Trust, University Grants Commission and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, respectively.
PY - 2008/5
Y1 - 2008/5
N2 - An unprecedented increase in the incidence of unresponsiveness to antimonial compounds has highlighted the urgent need to develop new antileishmanial agents. The leaves of Piper betle (locally known as Paan) have long been in use in the Indian indigenous system of medicine for its antimicrobial properties but its antileishmanial potential has not been studied. Accordingly, an ethanolic extract of leaves of Piper betle (PB) was tested for its antileishmanial activity that was evidenced in both promastigotes and amastigotes, with IC50 values of 9.8 and 5.45 μg/ml, respectively; importantly, it was accompanied by a safety index of >12-fold. This leishmanicidal activity of PB was mediated via apoptosis as evidenced by morphological changes, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, in situ labeling of DNA fragments by terminal deoxyribonucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling, and cell-cycle arrest at the sub-G0/G1 phase. Taken together, the data indicate that PB has promising antileishmanial activity that is mediated via programmed cell death and, accordingly, merits consideration and further investigation as a therapeutic option for the treatment of leishmaniasis.
AB - An unprecedented increase in the incidence of unresponsiveness to antimonial compounds has highlighted the urgent need to develop new antileishmanial agents. The leaves of Piper betle (locally known as Paan) have long been in use in the Indian indigenous system of medicine for its antimicrobial properties but its antileishmanial potential has not been studied. Accordingly, an ethanolic extract of leaves of Piper betle (PB) was tested for its antileishmanial activity that was evidenced in both promastigotes and amastigotes, with IC50 values of 9.8 and 5.45 μg/ml, respectively; importantly, it was accompanied by a safety index of >12-fold. This leishmanicidal activity of PB was mediated via apoptosis as evidenced by morphological changes, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, in situ labeling of DNA fragments by terminal deoxyribonucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling, and cell-cycle arrest at the sub-G0/G1 phase. Taken together, the data indicate that PB has promising antileishmanial activity that is mediated via programmed cell death and, accordingly, merits consideration and further investigation as a therapeutic option for the treatment of leishmaniasis.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=42049120290&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=42049120290&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00436-008-0902-y
DO - 10.1007/s00436-008-0902-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 18273645
AN - SCOPUS:42049120290
SN - 0932-0113
VL - 102
SP - 1249
EP - 1255
JO - Parasitology Research
JF - Parasitology Research
IS - 6
ER -