Leishmanicidal and immunomodulatory activities of the formononetin (a natural isoflavone) against Leishmania tropica

• Published in: BMC research notes Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 120
• Main Authors: Mahmoudvand, Hossein, Khalaf, Amal Khudair, Rajabi, Pouya Zareh, Karbasian, Nooshin, Ghasemian Yadegari, Javad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 26.06.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Amastigote; Amastigotes; Animal models; Animals; Antimicrobial agents; Antiprotozoal Agents - pharmacology; Care and treatment; Causes of; Cell-mediated immunity; Cytotoxicity; Drug dosages; Drug resistance; Flavonoids; Gene expression; Health aspects; Immunity; Immunomodulation; Infectivity; Isoflavones; Isoflavones - metabolism; Isoflavones - pharmacology; Leishmania tropica; Leishmaniasis; Macrophages; Nitric oxide; Nitric-oxide synthase; Parasites; Parasitic diseases; Promastigote; Promastigotes; Protozoa; Research Note; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Testing; Tropical diseases; Variance analysis; γ-Interferon; Iran; Germany; Leishmaniasis; Amastigote; Infectivity; Nitric oxide; Promastigote
• ISSN: 1756-0500; 1756-0500
• DOI: 10.1186/s13104-023-06403-1

This work aimed to examine the leishmanicidal, cellular mechanisms and cytotoxicity effects of formononetin (FMN), a natural isoflavone, against Leishmania tropica. We used the MTT assay to determine the leishmanicidal effects of FMN against promastigotes and its cytotoxicity effects on J774-A1 macrophage cells. The Griess reaction assay and quantitative real-time PCR were used to determine the nitric oxide (NO) and the mRNA expression levels of IFN-γ and iNOS in infected J774-A1 macrophage cells. FMN significantly (P < 0.001) decreased the viability and number of promastigotes and amastigotes forms. The 50% inhibitory concentrations value for FMN and glucantime was 9.3 and 14.3 µM for promastigote and amastigote, respectively. We found that the macrophages exposed with FMN especially at concentrations of 1/2 IC and IC significantly activated the NO release and the mRNA expression levels of IFN-γ, iNOS. The findings of the current research showed the favorable antileishmanial effects formononetin, a natural isoflavone, against various stages of L. tropica through inhibition of infectivity rate of macrophage cells and triggering the NO production and cellular immunity. However, supplementary works are essential to evaluate the ability and safety of FMN in animal model before use in the clinical phase.