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DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1713361
The Effect of Iodium 30c on Experimental Visceral Leishmaniasis
Funding Author L.M.Y. is supported by the NICHD K12 HD050121–11. Research reported in this publication was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Grant Number UL1TR001422. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Abstract
Background Leishmaniasis is one of several neglected tropical diseases that warrant serious attention. A disease of socio-economically poor people, it demands safer and cheaper drugs that help to overcome the limitations faced by the existing anti-leishmanials. Complementary or traditional medicines might be a good option, with an added advantage that resistance may not develop against these drugs. Thus, the present investigation was performed to evaluate the anti-leishmanial efficacy of an ultra-diluted homeopathic medicine (Iodium 30c) in experimental visceral leishmaniasis (VL).
Methods Compliant with strict ethical standards in animal experimentation, the study was performed in-vivo in inbred BALB/c mice which were injected intravenously with 1 × 107 promastigotes of Leishmania donovani before (therapeutic) or after (prophylactic) treatment with Iodium 30c for 30 days. In other groups of mice (n = 6 per group), amphotericin B served as positive control, infected animals as the disease control, while the naïve controls included normal animals; animals receiving only Iodium 30c or Alcohol 30c served as sham controls. The anti-leishmanial efficacy was assessed by determining the hepatic parasite load and analysing percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Biochemical analysis and histological studies were performed to check any toxicities.
Results Iodium-treated animals showed a significantly reduced parasite load (to 1503 ± 39 Leishman Donovan Units, LDU) as compared with the infected controls (4489 ± 256 LDU) (p < 0.05): thus, the mean therapeutic efficacy of Iodium 30c was 66.5%. In addition, the population of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was significantly increased (p < 0.05) after treatment. No toxicity was observed, as evidenced from biochemical and histopathological studies of the liver and kidneys. Efficacy of Iodium 30c prophylaxis was 58.3%, while the therapeutic efficacy of amphotericin B was 85.9%.
Conclusion This original study has shown that Iodium 30c had significant impact in controlling parasite replication in experimental VL, though the effect was less than that using standard pharmaceutical treatment.
Highlights
• The anti-parasitic efficacy of the homeopathic medicine Iodium 30c was evaluated in experimental VL.
• Iodium 30c treatment reduced the parasite load, with a therapeutic efficacy of 66.5%.
• The effect was less than that using the anti-leishmanial drug amphotericin B.
• Iodium 30c did not cause any hepatic or renal damage.
Publication History
Received: 03 December 2019
Accepted: 11 April 2020
Article published online:
21 August 2020
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The Faculty of Homeopathy
