Objective: To evaluate the leishmanicidal activity of saponin, dasyscyphin C of
Eclipta prostrata
and sapogenin, gymnemagenol from
Gymnema sylvestre
leaves under
in vitro conditions.
Materials and Methods: Dasyscyphin C/Gymnemagenol were dissolved in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and diluted with liquid medium to obtain concentrations ranging from 1000 to 15 µg /ml. The leishmanicidal activity against
leishmanial parasites,
Leishmania major
,
Leishmania aethiopica
and
Leishmania tropica
promastigotes was studied by the MTS assay.
Result: The Dasyscyphin C isolated from
E. prostrata showed good leishmanicidal activity at 1000µg/ml concentration, with the IC
50 value of 450µg/ml against
L. major promastigote and the percentage of parasitic death was 73; whereas, gymnemagenol of G. sylvestre showed only 52% parasitic death at 1000 µg/ml concentration. The other
Leishmania species, L. aethiopica and
L. tropica promastigotes, were less sensitive to the saponins of
E. prostrata and
G. sylvestre.
Conclusion: From this study, it can be concluded that the dasyscyphin C of
E. prostrata has significant leishmanicidal activity against
L. major promastigote.
