Ozonated Sunflower Oil Stimulates the Local Antioxidant System and Helps Meglumine Antimoniate to Ameliorate Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Lesions

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an infectious disease that causes disfiguring scars, which are not eliminated by drugs available to the treatment. Besides, these marks lead to economic and social and economic losses. Ozonated oil has wound healing activity as proven in the literature, and its use with the standard treatment to leishmaniasis could enhance the therapy. This study investigated ozonated sunflower oil as an adjuvant to meglumine antimoniate (MA) in the treatment of lesions caused by <i>Leishmania amazonensis</i>. BALB/c mice were infected with the parasite, and after the lesions appeared, they were subjected to different schedules through standard drug treatment (MA) with or without ozonated oil. After one month of the treatment, were evaluated the lesions thickness and their parasite burden; besides, the production of nitric oxide and cytokines from draining lymph node cells and peritoneal macrophages were determined. ERK1/2 expression and the concentrations of mature collagen and antioxidant enzymes were evaluated in the treated paws. The group that received MA with ozonated oil presented the best results, ameliorating the lesion, as shown by the macroscopic aspects and quantity of the mature collagent. The parasites were eliminated from the lesion, showing that ozonated oil enhanced the leishmanicidal action of MA. The reduction in lesions can be partially attributed to the stimulation of the local antioxidant system, which reached significantly greater levels in the MA plus topical ozonated oil group than MA and nontreated groups. So, the treatment of the experimental cutaneous leishmaniais with ozonated sunflower oil as adjuvant proved to be effective, increasing the leishmanicidal and wound healing effects of meglumine antimoniate.