Antileishmanial Activity of Selected Turkish Medicinal Plants

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 wit