Antioxidant and Leishmanicidal Evaluation of Pulicaria Inuloides Root Extracts: A Bioguided Fractionation

Leishmaniasis remains a major world health problem, and in particular, Algeria ranks second for the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis. is a well-known Arabian Peninsula medicinal plant. In the present study, the chloroform, ethyl acetate and -butanol extracts from the roots of were analyzed for antioxidant activity and its correlation with the total phenolic and flavonoid contents. The highest antioxidant activity using a DPPH assay was showed by the ethyl acetate extract (IC 4.08 µg/mL), which also had the highest total phenolic content (307.12 µgAGE). Furthermore, root extracts were evaluated against and . The results highlighted the chloroform extract as the most active one against both tested strains. A bioguided fractionation of the chloroform extract led to the isolation of (8 :8 )-(75:25 er)-10-isobutyryloxy-8,9-epoxy-thymol isobutyrate as the main bioactive component, showing a potent leishmanicidal activity on promatigote and amastigote stages (IC 5.03 and 2.87 µM, respectively) and a good selectivity index on murine macrophages (CC 19.37 µM). This study provides the first report of the antioxidant and leishmanicidal activities of root extracts and the results point to this species as a source of potential bioactive agents.