Efficacy of Crude Bark extract of Acacia Polyacantha Against Leishmania Donovani in mice

The template is used to format your paper and style the text. All margins, column widths, line spaces, and text fonts are prescribed; please do not alter them. Paper size is A4 (page layouta sizeaA4). Use the normal margins (page layouta marginsanormal). Paragraph sittings (paragraphaline spacing 1.5, after and before the paragraph is automatic). Visceral leishmaniasis (Kala Azar) is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and is the second largest parasitic killer disease in the world after malaria.Conventional treatment of Kala Azar is with Pentavalent antimonials and Amphotericin B but these are toxic, expensive and the causative  parasites are becoming resistant to the drugs. Affordable non- toxic alternative drugs are needed.This study investigated the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of methanolic and aqueous crude bark extracts of Acacia polyacantha against Leishmania donovani .SAB , BALB/c and Swiss Albino mice infected with Leishmania donovani were treated with the extracts and compared with conventional  drugs and PBS.Splenomegaly and parasite loads in the spleens of the mice  were determined and compared between the groups.Analysis of data was done using T test and ANOVA to determine any statistical significant differences in the tested parameters. P values of ≤ 0. 05 were considered to be significant.The study found that the crude bark extract of A .polyacantha is efficacious but less active against L .donovani with promastigote (MIC) of 1.47mg/ml  compared to Pentostam with promastigote (MIC) of 0.03mg/ml and Amphotericin B with promastigote (MIC) 0.08mg/ml.\r\nThere were no significant differences in reduction of splenomegaly and spleen weights in L. donovani  infected mice that were treated with the crude extracts compared to the controls.However, the study showed that there were significant  differences in reduction of Leishmania donovani Units (LDUs) ,the spleen parasite loads reduced by 34% in SAB mice and by 63% in BALB/c mice when compared  with PBS treated groups when  using methanolic crude bark.There was also significant  reduction of LDUs in SAB mice when treatment was given through the intra-peritoneal route (LDU mean=5.99) compared to the oral route(LDUmean=15.34) .In conclusion the crude bark extract of  A. polyacantha is efficacious but less potent against L. donovani compared to both Penstotam and Amphotericin B. The study recommends that further studies should be done on root and leaf extracts of A. polyacantha to establish if they have better action against L. donovani.