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. 1994 Jun;38(6):1339–1344. doi: 10.1128/aac.38.6.1339

Antileishmanial activity of licochalcone A in mice infected with Leishmania major and in hamsters infected with Leishmania donovani.

M Chen 1, S B Christensen 1, T G Theander 1, A Kharazmi 1
PMCID: PMC188208  PMID: 8092835

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the antileishmanial activity of the oxygenated chalcone licochalcone A in mice and hamsters infected with Leishmania parasites. Intraperitoneal administration of licochalcone A at doses of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg of body weight per day completely prevented lesion development in BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major. Treatment of hamsters infected with L. donovani with intraperitoneal administration of licochalcone A at a dose of 20 mg/kg of body weight per day for 6 consecutive days resulted in a > 96% reduction of parasite load in the liver and the spleen compared with values for untreated control animals. The [3H]thymidine uptake by the parasites isolated from the treated hamsters was only about 1% of that observed in parasites isolated from the controls. Oral administration of licochalcone A at concentrations of 5 to 150 mg/kg of body weight per day for 6 consecutive days resulted in > 65 and 85% reductions of L. donovani parasite loads in the liver and the spleen, respectively, compared with those of untreated control hamsters. These data clearly demonstrate that licochalcone A is a promising lead for the development of a new drug against leishmaniases.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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