Antiparasitic Effects of CuO Nanoparticles on Viability of different stages of Leishmania tropica In Vitro
Author(s):
Nawar Jaber Hussein Al-Asadi
Date: 11/10/2026
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8425890
Abstract
Leishmaniasis is still an important parasitic disorder in many parts of the world, with the protozoan
parasites of the genus Leishmania transmitted via the bite of female phlebotomine sand flies. There are
only a few drugs available for the treatment of leishmaniasis and the traditional treatment (pentostam) has
some side effects. This has generated the need for the development of safer and more effective therapeutic
alternatives, which has been a focus of interest in tropical medicine research. The evaluate the
antileishmanial activity of CuO NPs in attempt to replace the classical drug pentostam, by testing the
cytotoxic activity of CuO NPs on promastigote and amastigote morphological forms of Leishmania tropica
in vitro. The nanoparticles in the experiments were supplied by Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company
(Germany). The parasite cultures were treated with 7 different concentrations of CuO NPs (0.3, 0.6, 0.9,
1.2, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.1 µg/ml) and the viability was determined using a MTT colorimetric assay. The
promastigote viability was inhibited by 26.14 ± 0.71 % by the highest concentration of CuO NPs after 72
h incubation while 68.79 ± 0.42 % viability was seen for pentostam at 2.1 µg /ml after 72 h incubation.
The IC50 value for CuO NPs against the promastigotes was 1.553 µg/ml while pentostam did not cross
the 50 % inhibition threshold in the tested range.In the case of amastigote, cell viability was reduced to
5.62 ± 0.51 % by CuO NPs at 2.1 µg/ml, whereas the pentostam showed cell viability of 51.06 ± 0.79 %
at the same concentration. The IC50 values of CuO NPs on amastigotes was 1.073 µg/ml after 72 hr and
pentostam values were exceeding 50 % cut-off at all concentrations tested. Based on these results, it can
be concluded that the antileishmanial activity of the CuO NPs acquired from Sigma-Aldrich is very potent
and dose dependent and is definitely more potent than the standard antimonial drug.
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