Anti-Trichomonas vaginalis activity of nano Micana cordifolia and Metronidazole: an in vitro study.

Trichomonas vaginalis is a flagellate parasite living in the genital tract and it is accounted as a sexually transmitted disease. The clinical symptoms vary from the asymptomatic to the severe form which is usually associated with the irritation, itching and infertility in some severe cases. Many drugs have been applied to treat this disease and Metronidazole is the gold standard for treatment; however, it has also detected that this medicine has many side-effects which it has been motivated the researchers to find an appropriate alternative for this medicine. One of the treatment options is the use of the herbal medicines and natural compounds. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the in vitro anti-T. vaginalis activity of nano-emulsion of Micana cordifolia and Metronidazole. In this study, T. vaginalis was isolated from the clinical samples and were cultured on a modified Dorsate medium. The nano-emulsion of M. cordifolia was prepared by heating technique. The effect of nano-emulsion of M. cordifolia was separately investigated on the T. vaginalis at the times of 12, 24 and 72 h and the obtained data were analyzed by the Spss 20 using the ANOVA test. The results indicated that the concentration of 100 ppm of nano-emulsion of M. cordifolia at the times of 12, 24 and 72 h has the anti-T. vaginalis activity of 44 ± 1.66, 37 ± 1 and 25 ± 2, respectively. It is also observed that the concentration of 500 ppm of the extract has the best effect and was able to eliminate the 85% of T. vaginalis. Furthermore, the anti-T. vaginalis activity of nano M. cordifolia was observed to be 100% in the concentrations of 1000 ppm. It can be concluded, based on the results, that the nano M. cordifolia has acceptable efficacy on the elimination of T. vaginalis and it can be a suitable alternative for Metronidazole after implementation of complementary tests on laboratory animals and human cells.