Investigation the effect of dietary Spirulina supplement on the viability and proliferation of Leishmania donovani parasite in vitro

The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vitro antileishmanial activities of dietary Spirulina supplement and to determine its effectiveness in comparsion with a pentostam drug against Leishmania donovani. The effect of Spirulina on the visceral leishmaniasis viability was investigated using the MTT test after processed by different concentrations of 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and compared to the effect of pentostam treatment at a concentration of 0.041 mg / mL at different times of 24 and 48 hours. Parasite after 24 hours for percentages (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%) µg/ml were (33.3%, 42.8%, 60%, and 75%) respectively, while after 48 hours they were (22.2%, 28.5%, 45.4% and 64%) respectively, compared to pentostam treatment, where the parasite viability after 24 and 48 were 50%, 20% respectively, also observed that the Spirulina effect on the parasite growth, initially the parasite was grown at a rate of 1 × 104 cells / mL in three groups (Spirulina, pentostam, control) and the parasites grow at low rate of division compared with control groups, then the numbers of parasites began to gradually decrease in Spirulina and pentostam groups with the time until it became zero in 6 days with no notable growth has occurred