1.Assessment of Euphorbia retusa and Pulicaria undulata activity against Leishmania major and Toxoplasma gondii
Khan, T.A. ; Al Nasr, I.S. ; Mujawah, A.H. ; Koko, W.S.
Tropical Biomedicine 2021;38(No.1):135-141
Leishmaniasis and toxoplasmosis are parasitic protozoal diseases that pose serious health
concerns, especially for immunocompromised people. Leishmania major and Toxoplasma gondii
are endemic in Saudi Arabia and are particularly common in the Qassim Region. The present
work was conducted to evaluate the in vitro antileishmanial and antitoxoplasmal activity of
methanolic extracts and phytochemical fractions from two plants, Euphorbia retusa and Pulicaria
undulata, which are ethnobotanical agents used to treat parasitic infection. Whole E. retusa
and P. undulata plants were extracted with methanol and fractionated using petroleum ether,
chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water and then were tested in vitro against L. major
promastigote and the amastigote stages of T. gondii; the cytotoxicity of the extracts was
tested against Vero cell line. The methanolic extracts of E. retusa and P. undulata exhibited
promising antitoxoplasmal activity against T. gondii with EC50 values 5.6 and 12.7 μg mL-1
,
respectively. The chloroform fraction of P. undulata was the most potent, exhibiting an EC50 of
1.4 μg mL-1 and SI value of 12.1. It was also the most active fraction against both L. major
promastigotes and amastigotes, exhibiting an EC50 of 3.9 and 3.8 μg mL-1 and SI values 4.4 and
4.5, respectively. The chloroform fraction from P. undulata is a very good candidate for the
isolation of active antitoxoplasmal and antileishmanial ingredients; therefore, further
phytochemical analysis for active compound isolation is highly recommended.