Abstract

Background: In recent years, many reports have been published regarding the increasing frequency of drug resistance in Leishmania species to antimonial compounds. Accordingly, many researchers have tried to develop new medicines for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antileishmanial activity of aqueous, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions of Falcaria vulgaris against Leishmania major promastigotes. Methods: The total extract was obtained using the percolation method. Subsequently, chlorophyll and oil were eliminated from the total extract, using medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC), followed by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) for fractionation of the total extract. The antileishmanial activity of each fraction was examined at 6 concentrations (40, 80, 160, 320, 640, and 1280 mu g/mL) and 4 intervals (6, 24, 48, and 72 hours). Results: The results of repeated measures ANOVA showed P values of 0.16, 0.22, and 0.04 for the aqueous, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions, respectively. Furthermore, one-way ANOVA test revealed a significant difference between these fractions at 48 and 72 hours (P = 0.04 for both). In addition, Tukeys HSD test showed a significant difference between the butanol fraction and other fractions at 48 and 72 hours (P < 0.05). The greatest antileishmanial effect was observed in the butanol fraction with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 343.8 mu g/mL at 48 hours. Conclusions: As Falcaria vulgaris showed acceptable antileishmanial activity with no side effects in this study, it can be used as an effective complementary or alternative treatment for skin lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis. However, further in vivo studies are required in the future.