Screening of six medicinal plant species for antileishmanial activity

This study is aimed to investigate the anti-leishmanial activity of ethanolic, aqueous or dichloromethane extracts of leaves, flowers, fruits or roots, of six medicinal plant species, namely, , , , , and . After isolation and analysis of chemical components by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/MS), the extracts were also tested for toxicity in J774.A1 macrophages and human erythrocytes. Phenolic acids, flavonoids, acetogenins, alkaloids and lignans were identified in these extracts. Grow inhibition of promastigotes forms of and and the cytotoxicity in J774.A1 macrophages were estimated by the XTT method. The most promising results for and were shown by the ethanolic extract of the fruits of and dichloromethane extract of the roots of , with of 160 and 150 μg mL , resp. Ethanolic extracts of (leaf), (flower and leaf), (fruit and leaf), (leaf), and aqueous extract of (fruit) showed > 170 μg mL for and > 200 μg mL for . The extracts exhibited low cytotoxicity towards J774.A1 macrophages with > 1000 μg mL and hemolytic activity from 0 to 46.1 %.