{rfName}
Th

Indexed in

License and use

Altmetrics

Grant support

This work was supported by grants from Pro-Reitoria de Pesquisa from UFMG (Edital 08/2011), FAPEMIG (CBB-APQ-00496-11, CBB-APQ-02364-08, and CBB-APQ-00496-11), CNPq (APQ-472090/2011-9), Instituto Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnologia em Nanobiofarmaceutica (INCT NANO-BIOFAR), and Instituto Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnologia em Vacinas (INCT-V), CNPq. DGV, APF, and EAFC are grant recipient of CNPq, while MACF is a grant recipient of CAPES. This study was in part supported in Spain by grants from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion FIS/PI1100095.

Analysis of institutional authors

Soto Alvarez, ManuelAuthor

Share

May 16, 2023
Publications
>
Article
No

Therapeutic efficacy induced by the oral administration of Agaricus blazei Murill against Leishmania amazonensis

Publicated to:PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH. 111 (4): 1807-1816 - 2012-10-01 111(4), DOI: 10.1007/s00436-012-3028-1

Authors: Valadares, Diogo G.; Duarte, Mariana C.; Ramirez, Laura; Chavez-Fumagalli, Miguel A.; Lage, Paula S.; Martins, Vivian T.; Costa, Lourena E.; Ribeiro, Tatiana G.; Regis, Wiliam C. B.; Soto, Manuel; Fernandes, Ana Paula; Tavares, Carlos A. P.; Coelho, Eduardo A. F.;

Affiliations

Minasfungi Brasil Ltda, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Pontificia Univ Catolica Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Dept Biol Mol, CSIC UAM, Ctr Biol Mol Severo Ochoa, E-28049 Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, COLTEC, Dept Patol Clin, Lab Biotecnol Aplicada Ao Estudo Leishmanioses, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Fac Farm, Dept Anal Clin & Toxicol, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Fac Farm, Programa Posgrad Ciencias Farmaceut, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Fac Med, Programa Posgrad Ciencias Saude Infectol & Med Tr, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Inst Ciencias Biol, Dept Bioquim & Imunol, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Programa Posgrad Med Mol, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
See more

Abstract

The development of therapeutic alternatives to treat leishmaniasis has received considerable attention. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of the Agaricus blazei Murill water extract (AbM) to treat BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania amazonensis. First, a dose-titration curve was performed. The most well-defined concentration able to induce the most effective results in the infected animals, considering a daily administration of the product, was that of 100 mg kg(-1) day(-1). In this context, the AbM was administered orally, beginning on day 0 up to 20 days postinfection. Additional animals were treated with amphotericin B (AmpB, 5 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) by peritoneal route for the same period of time, while the control group received distilled water. The animals were evaluated at 14 weeks post-infection, at which time the parasitological and immunological parameters were analyzed. Mice treated with the AbM presented a 60 % reduction in the inflammation of infected footpads as compared to untreated control-infected mice. Moreover, in the treated mice, as compared to the untreated controls, approximately 60 and 66 % reductions could be observed in the parasite burdens of the footpad and draining lymph nodes, respectively. In addition, no parasites could be detected in the spleen of treated mice at week 14 postinfection. These treated animals produced significantly higher levels of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and nitric oxide (NO), higher levels of parasite-specific IgG2a isotype antibodies, and lower levels of interleukin (IL)-4, and IL-10 in the spleen and lymph node cell cultures than did the controls. Differences could be observed by comparing animals treated with AbM to those treated with AmpB, as indicated by a significant reduction in tissue parasitism, higher levels of IFN-gamma and NO, and lower levels of IL-4 and IL-10, as well as by a decreased hepatic toxicity. In conclusion, the present study's data show that the A. blazei Murill water extract presents a high potential for the treatment of leishmaniasis, although additional studies on mice, as well as on other mammal hosts, are warranted in an attempt to determine this extract's true efficacy as compared to other known therapeutic products.

Keywords

ChemotherapyCutaneous leishmaniasisExtractImmune-responsesMacrophagesMiceMiltefosine treatmentMonocytesSusceptibilityTopical paromomycin

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal PARASITOLOGY RESEARCH due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2012, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Veterinary (Miscellaneous). Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations from Scopus Elsevier, it yields a value for the Field-Weighted Citation Impact from the Scopus agency: 1.57, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 4.27 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-16, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 21
  • Scopus: 30
  • Europe PMC: 8

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-16:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 46.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 47 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Brazil.