In vitro and in vivo antileishmanial effects of Nectaroscordum koelzi extract against Leishmania major.

Due to the increasing resistance to common medicinal compounds, the use of medicinal plants has received special attention. Therefore, the current survey was designed to study the antileishmanial effects of Nectaroscordum koelzi Trautv. methanolic extract against Leishmania major. In this study, after preparing the methanolic extract of N. koelzi, its effect on the amastigotes of L. major and triggering the nitric oxide (NO) were measured. Then, the in vivo effect of the methanol extract on cutaneous leishmaniasis in mice was evaluated. The best anti-amastigote effect was for the methanol extract of N. koelzi along with meglumine antimony with 50% inhibitory concentrations value of 17.4 µg/ml (p < 0.001). The 50% cytotoxic concentrations values of methanol extract, meglumine antimoniate, and methanol extract + meglumine antimoniate were 596.3, 784.6, and 296.4 µg/ml, respectively. Macrophages treated with the methanolic extract markedly (p < 0.001) induced the release of nitric oxide. After 28 days of treatment, lesions were completely (p < 0.001) healed in mice treated with the methanolic extract (100 mg/kg) + meglumine antimoniate (25 mg/kg). N. koelzi methanolic extract mainly in combination with meglumine antimoniate showed favorable antileishmanial effects on L. major, concluding that the methanolic extract of N. koelzi can be used for the production of new leishmanicidal agents agaist cutaneous leishmaniasis. Although we revealed that NO trigerring and inhibition of infection in host cells are the antileishmanial mechanism action of N. koelzi methanolic extract, more studies must be performed to clear the mechanisms and its safety.

Cytological diagnosis of actinomycosis and eumycetoma: a report of two cases.

Mycetoma and actinomycosis are common in tropical countries and are increasingly diagnosed in other parts of the world due to rapid mobilization of the population. They are usually diagnosed on histopathology. There is very limited data on the role of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in diagnosing these lesions. We report here two cases: one of eumycetoma and the other of an actinomycosis that were reliably diagnosed with FNAC. The cytological features were similar to histopathology features and differentiated eumycetoma and actinomycosis. FNAC is a rapid, simple and inexpensive outpatient procedure that helps in rapid diagnosis.