# Ozonated Sunflower Oil Stimulates the Local Antioxidant System and Helps Meglumine Antimoniate to Ameliorate Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Lesions

## TL;DR

Ozonated sunflower oil, when used with meglumine antimoniate, improves treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis by enhancing healing and reducing lesions.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates that ozonated sunflower oil acts as an effective adjuvant to standard leishmaniasis treatment.

## Key findings

- Combining ozonated oil with meglumine antimoniate reduced lesion thickness and parasite burden in mice.
- The treatment stimulated the local antioxidant system and increased mature collagen production.
- Parasites were eliminated more effectively when ozonated oil was used alongside the drug.

## Abstract

Cutaneous leishmaniasis
is an infectious disease that causes disfiguring
scars, which are not eliminated by drugs available to the treatment.
Besides, these marks lead to economic and social and economic losses.
Ozonated oil has wound healing activity as proven in the literature,
and its use with the standard treatment to leishmaniasis could enhance
the therapy. This study investigated ozonated sunflower oil as an
adjuvant to meglumine antimoniate (MA) in the treatment of lesions
caused by Leishmania amazonensis. BALB/c
mice were infected with the parasite, and after the lesions appeared,
they were subjected to different schedules through standard drug treatment
(MA) with or without ozonated oil. After one month of the treatment,
were evaluated the lesions thickness and their parasite burden; besides,
the production of nitric oxide and cytokines from draining lymph node
cells and peritoneal macrophages were determined. ERK1/2 expression
and the concentrations of mature collagen and antioxidant enzymes
were evaluated in the treated paws. The group that received MA with
ozonated oil presented the best results, ameliorating the lesion,
as shown by the macroscopic aspects and quantity of the mature collagent.
The parasites were eliminated from the lesion, showing that ozonated
oil enhanced the leishmanicidal action of MA. The reduction in lesions
can be partially attributed to the stimulation of the local antioxidant
system, which reached significantly greater levels in the MA plus
topical ozonated oil group than MA and nontreated groups. So, the
treatment of the experimental cutaneous leishmaniais with ozonated
sunflower oil as adjuvant proved to be effective, increasing the leishmanicidal
and wound healing effects of meglumine antimoniate.