Title: Evaluation of therapeutic potential of folk plants extracts against Acanthamoeba in vitro

Biography:

Dr. Abdul Matin received his PhD from Birkbeck, University of London followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship from School of Medicine, Southampton University Hospital, Southampton, United Kingdom. Dr. Matin’s long-standing research interests include the epidemiology and pathogenic mechanism of emerging parasitic diseases with special interest on role of Blood-Brain Barrier in Central Nervous System infections. Using multi-disciplinary approach he is looking for potential novel synthesized compounds or nanoparticles or/and obtained from plants or insects to discover potential drug candidates or/and for drug delivery system to alleviate the burden of life threatening infections. He is conducting research using state-of-the-art technologies in the field of infectious diseases. Dr. Matin is recipient of various international and national awards, honors and grants. Dr. Matin is currently Associate Professor at Majmaah University, KSA. He has published more than 30 research articles in reputed journals and is serving as an editorial board member and reviewer for various international and national reputed journals and funding agencies.

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic protozoan pathogen and one of the most prevalent organisms in our natural environment (i.e., air, soil and water). It is recognized to cause fatal brain infection (granulomatous encephalitis) and eye infection (blinding keratitis). Treatments for both infections are problematic because of the amoebic cysts resistance to therapeutic agents. That’s why there is no effective anti-amoebic drug available to date. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate in vitro strength of plants extracts on the viability and biological properties of Acanthamoeba castellanii (T4 genotype) and its cytotoxic effects on human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC). Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Using HCEC, adhesion, cytotoxicity and amoebicidal, amoebisttic and growth assays were performed. Findings: Normally Acanthamoeba exhibited >90 % binding and >80 % cytotoxicity to HCEC cells which was remarkably inhibited by plant extracts to >70 and 60 % respectively. It was also observed that extracts (ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 mg/ml) exhibited amoebicidal effects, i.e., >50 % of trophozoites were killed at 1.5 mg/ml within 1 h. However, the residual amoeba remained static for quite some time. Furthermore, extracts also inhibited >50 % amoeba numbers up to 7 days during growth assay. Furthermore, plant extracts (1 to 30mg/ml) exhibited amoebicidal effects against Acanthamoeba cysts. Furthermore Acanthamoeba encystment was also inhibited in concentration dependent manner with maximum inhibition at 2µg/ml after 48h. Among all Peganum harmala seed extratcs showed optimal activity against amoeba. Our results confirmed that extracts has toxic effects against both cysts and trophozoite. Conclusion & Significance: Overall, we reported for the first time that selested plant extracts exhibited inhibitory effects on biological properties of Acanthamoeba without any toxic effects on HCEC cells in vitro. Recommendations: Further experiments are required with purified fractions of plant extracts to identify the active ingredients and to elucidate the mechanism of action of the effective compounds both in vitro and in vivo which may provide a new series of chemotherapeutic agents.