Saraca asoca seed extract treatment recovers the trace elements imbalances in experimental murine visceral leishmaniasis.

Saraca asoca is an important plant species of India having variety of medicinal activity such as antiviral, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer etc. Indian Kala-azar (KA) or visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a protozoan parasitic disease caused by Leishmania sp and is endemic in Indian subcontinent. VL mainly targets the poorest people who have been suffering from deficiency in protein, nutrients and essential trace elements which ultimately leads to immunodeficiency. Essential trace element, Zinc (Zn) controls multiple aspects of innate and adaptive immunity while Iron (Fe) is required for various cellular activities. Bromine (Br) is important for assembly of collagen IV scaffolds in tissue development and helps in signalling and Copper (Cu) performs several functions related to immune system. Intra-cardiac blood was collected from the experimental BALB/c mice groups including (a) healthy control, (b) infected control, (c) Saraca asoca seed extract (Sa-SE) treated groups. The trace elements level in blood of mice was measured by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence technique. Interestingly, the decreased level of Zn, Fe and Br as well as increased level of Cu in diseased state came back to almost normal range upon treatment with Sa-SE. The trace elements imbalances thus were almost restored to normalcy by treating the experimental BALB/c mice with ethanolic seed extract of Saraca asoca. © Indian Society for Parasitology 2019.