In Vitro Antileishmanial Activity of Korean Red Ginseng Extract Against
Two Leishmania Species
Abstract
Heightened parasite resistance urges the need for new therapeutic agents
to treat diseases like leishmaniasis. Previously, extracts from ginseng
exhibited antiprotozoal effects against malaria, trypanosomiasis, and
leishmaniasis. In this study, we evaluated the antileishmanial activity
of Korean red ginseng extract (KRGE) using the Alamar Blue assay on
promastigotes and axenically cultured amastigotes from clinical isolates
of Leishmania aethiopica and Leishmania donovani.
Amphotericin B served as the positive control, while 1% dimethyl
sulfoxide (DMSO) and the culture medium were used as negative controls.
Our results indicated that KRGE has a significant dose-dependent
inhibition with IC 50 values of 18.09 ± 1.64 and 17.22 ±
0.47 µg/ml for promastigotes, and 14.06 ± 0.09 and 15.45 ± 0.33 µg/ml
for axenic amastigotes of L. aethiopica and L. donovani,
respectively. Moreover, KRGE exhibited selectivity indices (SIs) of 3.18
and 3.34 for promastigotes, and 4.09 and 3.72 for amastigotes, whereas
amphotericin B had SIs of 34.05 and 32.70 for promastigotes, and 32.15
and 31.28 for amastigotes. Altogether, KRGE possesses promising
antileishmanial activity against L. aethiopica and L. donovani,
warranting further investigation using active compounds isolated form
Korean red ginseng.