OBJECTIVES

The intracellular parasitic protozoan, spp., causes several forms of diseases in humans. Cytotoxicity and emergence of new strains resistance to the current anti-leishmanial drugs have encouraged researchers to focus on new resources. Glucosinolates (GSL) are found mainly in the Brassicaceae family with potential cytotoxic and anti-parasitic properties. The present study reports antileishmanial activity of the GSL fraction from seeds against .

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The GSL fraction was prepared by ion-exchange and reversed-phase chromatography. For the assessment of antileishmanial activity, the promastigotes and amastigotes of were treated with different concentrations of the fraction (75-625 μg/mL).

RESULTS

The IC was 245 µg/mL for anti-promastigote effect of the GSL fraction and 250 µg/mL for its anti-amastigote effect that had a significant difference (<0.05) with both glucantime and amphotericin B. The selectivity index of the GSL fraction (15.8), to glucantime and amphotericin B, was greater than 10, indicating the selective effect of this fraction against amastigotes. Glucoiberverin was the major constituent of the GSL fraction characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance and electron ionization-mass spectrometry spectra. Based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data, iberverin and iberverin nitrile, the hydrolysis constituents from glucoiberverin, included 76.91% of the total seed volatiles.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that GSLs like glucoiberverin could be considered a new promising candidate for further studies on antileishmanial activity.