Anti-leishmanial effect of nanosilver solutions on Leishmania tropica promastigotes by in-vitro assay

Background: At present, nanosilver particles are used against a broad spectrum of microbial agents. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-leishmanial effect of nanosilver solutions on L. tropica promastigotes as compared with the trivalent antimony compound by colorimetric assay.Materials and Method: Promastigots of L. tropica were cultured in RPMI-1640 consisting of 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) and antibiotics at 24±10C. The effect of various concentrations of nanosilver solutions was evaluated in comparison with tartar emetic. Optical density as the result of tetrazolium salts (MTT) reduction by the promastigotes into a formozan product and it was calculated by Elisa reader and IC50 (50% inhibitory concentration), subsequently.Results: Both, nanosilver particles and tartar emetic inhibited the growth of L. tropica promastigotes. The IC50 for nanosilver solutions was significantly higher (14.9 μg/mL) than the corresponding value (5.3 μg/mL) for the control drug (p<0.001). Conclusion: Since nanosilver particles showed an effective anti-leishmanial activity, further works are required to evaluate the effect in animal model or human volunteers