In vitro Evaluation of Antileishmanial Activity and Toxicity of Essential Oils of Artemisia absinthium and Echinops kebericho

Abstract

Potential toxicity, costs, and drug-resistant pathogens necessitate the development of new antileishmanial agents. Medicinal and aromatic plants constitute a major source of natural organic compounds. In this study, essential oils of Artemisia absinthium L. and Echinops kebericho Mesfin were investigated by GC and GC/MS analyses. Isolated oils were screened for antileishmanial activity against two Leishmania strains (L. aethiopica and L. donovani), and toxicity on the human monocytic leukemia (THP-1) cell line and red blood cells in vitro. GC/MS Analysis revealed 65 compounds (93.74%) for Artemisia absinthium and 43 compounds (92.85%) for Echinops kebericho oil. The oils contained the oxygenated monoterpene camphor (27.40%) and the sesquiterpene lactone dehydrocostus lactone (41.83%) as major constituents, respectively. Both oils showed activity against promastigote (MIC 0.0097-0.1565 μl/ml) and axenic amastigote forms (EC(50) 0.24-42.00 nl/ml) of both leishmania species. Weak hemolytic effect was observed for both oils, showing a slightly decreased selectivity index (SI 0.8-19.2) against the THP-1 cell line. Among the two oils tested, E. kebericho exerted strong antileishmanial activity that was even higher than that of amphotericin B with significant cytotoxicity. This study, therefore, demonstrated the potential use of both oils as source of novel agents for the treatment of leishmaniasis.

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF Echinops kebericho AGAINST HUMAN PATHOGENIC BACTERIA AND FUNGI

“…Antileishmanial activity was also reported against promastigote and axenic amastigote stages of Leshmania aethiopica and L. donovani (Tariku et al, 2011). Phytochemical analysis of root extracts of the plant also showed the presence of many antimicrobial chemical compounds (Ashebir and Ashenafi, 1999).…”

In vitro efficacy of ethanolic extract of Artemisia absinthium (Asteraceae) against Leishmania major L. using cell sensitivity and flow cytometry assays

“…The latter report found IC 50 values ranged from 0.21 to 0.58 mg/ml for Absinthium indica, while another report on A. absinthium against L. major demonstrated an IC 50 value of 0.28 mg/ml (Kheiri Manjili et al 2012). Essential oils from A. absinthium demonstrated growth inhibitory effects at certain concentrations against promastigotes of two different Leishmania species (Tariku et al 2011). Similarly, the growth inhibitory activities of 11 different Artemisia species were shown against the promastigotes of L. major (Emami et al 2012).…”

“…About 400 species are described globally of which some 30 species are present in Iran only two of which are native to this country. They are known to have diverse antiparasitic (Rocha et al 2005;Sen et al 2007;Abdel-Sattar et al 2010), antibacterial (Ramezani et al 2004;Valdes et al 2008;Ahameethunisa and Hopper 2010), antifungal (Kordali et al 2005), antioxidant and antidepressant (Mahmoudi et al 2009;Ali et al 2013) and cytotoxic (Tariku et al 2011) effects. Their efficacy could be due to the presence of an endoperoxide bridge at the heart of artemisinin, a bitter substance derived from extracts of wormwood (Krishna et al 2008).…”

A status review on the pharmacological implications of Artemisia absinthium: A critically endangered plant

“…The study showed reduction in ulcer index, increase in level of mucin, reduction in peptic activity and decrease in gastric juice volume [42]. [44]. Wormwood also exhibited antiprotozoal activity against Leishmania donovani, Leishmania infantum, Plasmodium falciparum and Trypanosoma cruzi [45].…”