Purpose: To determine the
in vitro and
in vivo anti-leishmanial activities of extracts obtained from
Centaurea calolepis
,
Phlomis lycia,
Eryngium thorifolium
,
Origanum sipyleum and
Galium incanum
ssp.
centrale.
Methods: To estimate the cytotoxicity of plant extracts, WST-1 assay was used. Parasite inhibition in
the presence of plant extracts (25 - 500 μg/ml) in comparision with control group and reference group
(glucantime, 25 μg/ml) at 12 - 72 h were determined
in vitro on
L. tropica promastigotes. The
in vivo
leishmanicidal activity of the extracts was evaluated against
L. tropica-infected mice with glucantime as
reference drug.
Results: The chloroform extract of
Galium incanum ssp. centrale showed the highest cytotoxicity with
IC
50 value of 0.0316 ± 0.005 μg/ml.
In vitro parasite inhibition by the plant extracts ranged between 16.7
± 0.01 % and 100 ± 0.00 % at 25 μg/ml concentration. The methanol extract of
Eryngium thorifolium
possessed the highest activity on promastigotes of
L. tropica with 100 % inhibition at 25 μg/ml. The
water and chloroform extracts of
C. calolepis and water and methanol extracts of
E. thorifolium at a
dose of 100 mg/kg reduced parasitaemia in
L. tropica infected mice.
Conclusion: Parasite viability results suggest that the methanol extract of
Eryngium thorifolium,
regarded as non-cytotoxic, is a promising candidate drug for treating
L. tropica infection.
