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Screening of In Vitro Antileishmanial Activity of Extracts of Selected Medicinal Plants

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Abstract

The chemotherapeutic intervention for discovering drugs against leishmaniasis suffers from limitations as toxicity, high cost and development of resistant strains of Leishmania. As a result of unprecedented increase in the number of newly diagnosed cases against leishmaniasis, development of drugs from medicinal plants is gaining widespread interest. Different solvent extracts from ten plants were colorimetrically tested against the promastigotes. In the present study, aqueous extract of all the plants gave some level of activity against the promastigotes. The aqueous extract of Solanum xanthocarpum gave IC50 value of 110 µg ml−1 followed by ethanolic extract of Tephrosia purpurea with IC50 value of 141 µg ml−1. Moderate antipromastigote activity with inhibition of parasite growth in the range of 30–40 % was witnessed in the extracts of Asparagus racemosus, Boerhaavia diffusa, Citrullus colocynthis, Spilanthes acmella and Thuja occidentalis. For quality determination and reproducibility of results the aqueous extract of S. xanthocarpum and ethanolic extract of T. purpurea were analyzed through HPLC and general profile of the extract was recorded. The aqueous extract of S. xanthocarpum was also subjected to UV–Vis spectrophotometry and FTIR analysis. The results of this study advocate the promotion of medicinal plant products for the isolation of new natural molecules for the treatment of leishmaniasis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Director of the Institute for providing the necessary laboratory facilities. The authors are thankful to Dr. Poonam Salotra for providing Leishmania culture for the study. DR wishes to thank the UGC, New Delhi, for the Research Fellowship in Sciences for Meritorious Students.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University), Dayalbagh, Agra, 282110, India

    Dolly Rani & Prem Kumar Dantu

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  1. Dolly Rani
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  2. Prem Kumar Dantu
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Correspondence to Prem Kumar Dantu.

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Rani, D., Dantu, P.K. Screening of In Vitro Antileishmanial Activity of Extracts of Selected Medicinal Plants. Natl. Acad. Sci. Lett. 38, 275–279 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-014-0333-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-014-0333-5

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