Evaluation of antileishmanial activity of plants used in Indian traditional medicine

What is it about?

The present study was aimed at in vitro antileishmanial screening of 10 plants used in the traditional medicine in India. MTT method was used to evaluate the cell death after application of 100, 250, 350 and 500 μg/mL of the methanolic extracts followed by incubation for 24 hours at 25°C. Methanolic leaf extracts of Acorus calamus, Alstonia scholaris and Berberis aristata showed significant antileishmanial activity at a concentration of 500 μg/mL. In order to identify the antileishmanial compounds present in the active extracts of the screened plants, an LC-MS analysis of the tested extracts was carried out. The active extracts revealed the presence of some natural products with known antileishmanial activity along with other compounds. The present study suggests that the active plant extracts may be processed to isolate the compounds that may further be screened for their antileishmanial potential.

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Why is it important?

Leishmaniasis is a current public health concern and is among the five parasitic diseases of high social impact world-wide. The current chemotherapy has unpleasant side effects. In the present study ten of the traditionally used medicinal plants were selected on the basis of their ethno-botanical reports and were screened for the antileishmanial potential against L. donovani promastigotes.

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