A Potential New Source of Therapeutic Agents for the Treatment of Mucocutaneous Leishmaniasis: The Essential Oil of .

Weeds are an important source of natural products; with promising biological activity. This study investigated the anti-kinetoplastida potential (in vitro) to evaluate the cytotoxicity (in vitro) and antioxidant capacity of the essential oil of (EORe), which is an infesting plant species. The essential oil was analyzed by GC/MS. The antioxidant capacity was evaluated by reduction of the DPPH radical and Fe ion. The clone CL-B5 was used to search for anti-epimastigote activity. Antileishmanial activity was determined using promastigotes of (MHOM/CW/88/UA301). NCTC 929 fibroblasts were used for the cytotoxicity test. The results showed that the main constituent of the essential oil was γ-elemene. No relevant effect was observed concerning the ability to reduce the DPPH radical; only at the concentration of 480 μg/mL did the essential oil demonstrate a high reduction of Fe power. The oil was active against promastigotes; but not against the epimastigote form of . Cytotoxicity for mammalian cells was low at the active concentration capable of killing more than 70% of promastigote forms. The results revealed that the essential oil of showed activity against ; positioning itself as a promising agent for antileishmanial therapies.