Leishmaniasis is a neglected public health problem caused by the protozoan species belonging to the genus Leishmania affecting mostly the poor populations of developing countries. The causative organism is transmitted by female sandflies. Cutaneous, mucocutaneous, and visceral clinical manifestations are the most frequent forms of leishmaniasis. Chemotherapy still relies on the use of pentavale...

BACKGROUND Therapeutic response in infectious disease involves host as well as microbial determinants. Because the immune and inflammatory response to Leishmania (Viannia) species defines the outcome of infection and efficacy of treatment, immunomodulation is considered a promising therapeutic strategy. However, since Leishmania infection and antileishmanial drugs can themselves modulate drug t...

The antileishmanial and antimalarial activities of different fractions of Vincetoxicum stocksii, Carum copticum, Gentiana olivierii and Zygophyllum fabago were determined. Amongst these, V. stocksii and C. copticum showed moderate to good antimalarial activity. The ethyl acetate fractions of C. copticum and hexane fraction of V. stocksii showed 94 % and 52% inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum (...

Sixteen methanolic extracts obtained from thirteen plant species, selected either from ethnobotanical or chemotaxonomical data, were screened for their antileishmanial activity against Leishmania amazonensis. The cytotoxic activity against normal peritoneal macrophages from normal BALB/c mice was also determined. Eight extracts had IC50 values ranging from <12.5 to 37.8 µg/mL against promastigo...

background: in leishmaniasis, some drugs prescribed for treatment have toxic ef-fects and there are reports about drug resistance in some countries. due to this fact, using herbal drugs such as artemisinin with good efficacy and low toxic effect might be suitable. methods: we evaluated the apoptotic effect of artemisinin on leishmania major in vitro and the antileishmanial activities of artemis...

background and objectives: several natural compounds have been identified for the treatment ofleishmaniasis. due to a few safe drugs and the side effects caused by available chemotherapy, some new drugs for treatment of leishmaniasis are requested.  the genus pulicaria (asteraceae) is represented in the flora of iran by five species. phytochemical studies on pulicaria species have revealed some...