A review on the anti-parasitic activity of ruthenium compounds

There are many infectious diseases in the world caused by parasites. Among them, toxoplasmosis, American trypanosomiasis, African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, neosporosis and malaria are more common and contribute to a majority of the affected individuals.

Due to extensive use of antibiotics, antibiotic resistant strain of the parasites has developed. So, we need to develop a new metal ligand complexes which have many configurations, can overcome this drug resistance and also show significant results in elimination of the parasites. A series of anti-parasitic drugs have been formulated and tested for its activity. In this review, we have tried to see the interaction of different ruthenium drugs (arene ruthenium complex, ruthenium clotrimazole complex, etc.) on different parasites associated with the aforementioned diseases.

Combination of ruthenium to any organic ligand shows synergistic effects against parasite either by overcoming the drug resistance of the parasite or by binding with new targets due to the presence of ruthenium ion. The multiple modes of action generate an effective drug exhibiting anti-parasitic activity at low concentration.