The impact of Api toxin (Bee venom) on promastigote on both Leishmania tropica and Leishmania Donovani in Vitro

Leishmaniasis is a type of serious diseases which is triggered by a protozoan parasite of the species Leishmania. It has been known for many hundreds of years. This disease is transmitted by a sand fly's bite which is known as subfamily Phlebotominae. Limited drugs are available for the treatment of Leishmaniasis, and general drugs have many side effects on patients. These necessitate the need for urgent active treatment of leishmaniasis. The aim of the study is to develop a new type of antileishmanial agent instead of the classical drug by investigating the effectiveness of Api toxin (Bee venom) on the phase promastigote of both Leishmania tropica and Leishmania donovani in vitro.

The cytotoxic effect of Bee venom was evaluated by exposing L.tropica, and L.donovani promastigote phase was exposed to six diverse concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 5μg/ml) and determined by colorimetric assay (MTT) after 4hr. The outcomes of the study showed high effectiveness on parasites numbers in the same concentrations reached to inhibitory growth (the viability percentage of promastigote). The cytotoxic effect (MTT) was decreased by increasing the concentrations with the same amount of time, which reached to (22.83± 1.67) and (72.46 ± 1.49) after 4hr in 5μg/ml of a cytotoxic solution of Bee venom for Leishmania tropica and Leishmania donovani successively. The IC₅₀ was also calculated depending on the results of the MTT assay to determine the most effective concentration of Bee venom on the viability of Leishmania tropica promastigotes. The result was 1.3 μg/ml. The conclusion of the study is that the Bee venom-based treatment has a very important role in overcoming cutaneous leishmaniasis as results showed the high inhibitory effects on L.tropica at low concentration in vitro.