The Efficacy of Hydroalcoholic Extracts of Prosopis farcta Against .

Objective: Cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by () is an endemic disease in Iran. The current reference drugs, including Glucantime, possess high toxicity in addition to some side-effects. Therefore, there is a growing interest in exploring biomedical plants. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the anti-leishmanial activity and cytotoxicity of hydroalcoholic extracts from () over promastigote and amastigote forms.

Methods: This study was performed at the Iran Birjand University of Medical Sciences, during the year 2019. In this study, the hydroalcoholic extracts of the stems, leaves (LE) and fruits (FE) of were obtained. The anti-leishmanial activity was assessed against leptomonad promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes of . The cytotoxicity of these extracts was determined in murine macrophages.

Results: The FE and LE of demonstrated a significant leishmanicidal effect against promastigotes with an IC50 of 0.9 mg/mL and 1.1 mg/mL, respectively. The FE showed the most anti-leishmanial activity and presented with the highest index of selectivity (SI=14.6) as an anti-leishmanial product. Infected macrophages treated using the FE showed a reduction in parasite burden by 97.3%.

Conclusion: The results of the present study demonstrated the leishmanicidal activity of on both promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes. There is a need for performing comprehensive studies on relevant animal models and to access the effects of active components of extract on the growth of L. major.