Anti- activity of the Mayan medicinal plant Radlk extracts.

Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis, locally known as the chiclero's ulcer, and Mayan traditional medicine which refers to the use of Radlk, known as k'an chuunup. Aqueous and organic leaves extracts were evaluated against promastigotes and amastigotes of Toxicity tests of extracts were performed using Vero and J774A.1 macrophage cell lines. The composition of the most active extracts was analysed by GC-MS. The -hexane and ethyl acetate extracts showed potent anti- activity against the promastigote form, and remarkably, -hexane extract exhibited potent activity against the amastigote form. Both extracts showed low toxicity on Vero both not on J774A.1 cells. Analysis of both bioactive extracts identified as more abundant compounds, germacrene D-4-ol and thunbergen in -hexane, and thunbergol in ethyl acetate extracts. Our study presents as anti- phytomedicine supporting its medicinal use and contributes to the understanding of its phytochemical composition.