Inhibitory Activity of Eleven Artemisia Species from Iran against Leishmania Major Parasites

OBJECTIVES Annual incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis is increasingly growing and development of the alternative drugs against it is a major concern. Artemisia genus is a traditional medicinal plant in Iran. The aim of this study was to examine the leishmanicidal activity of various Iranian Artemisia species extracts. MATERIALS AND METHODS Different extracts were gathered from eleven Iranian Artemisia species. Their leishmanicidal activities against the growth of Leishmania major (L. major) promastigotes were examined as the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) using MTT assay. RESULTS Obtained results showed that ethanol extracts especially those taken from A. ciniformis, A. santolina and A. kulbadica have the strongest effects. CONCLUSION Looking for the effective leishmanicidal agents from natural resources in Iran, we found that the ethanol extract of collected Artemisia species had significant effect on in vitro leishmanicidal activity and may be suitable candidates in the treatment of leishmaniasis.