Leishmaniasis is considered as an emerging, uncontrolled disease and is endemic in 98 countries. Annually, about 2 million cases of cutaneous and 500 000 cases of visceral-type leishmaniasis are recorded and 60 000 persons died from the disease. In Mexico, cutaneous leishmaniasis is known as chiclero's ulcer and is reported in 22 states, it is considered as a health problem. For its treatment, pentavalent antimonial drugs are administered. These drugs cause severe side effects, are costly. Drug-resistant cases have been reported and have been developing for over 70 years. One alternative to the drugs that are currently available is to find active molecules in medicinal plants. Dihydrocorynantheine, corynantheine and corynantheidine are active against Leishmania major, while harmane, pleiocarpin, buchtienin, luteolin and quercetin are active against Leishmania donovani. In Mexico, about 20 medicinal plants have been evaluated against Leishmania mexicana, among which the most active are Tridax procumbens, Lonchocarpus xuul and Pentalinon andrieuxii. From these plants, active compounds with IC

Objective To estimate to what extent the mixture of ursolic acid and oleanolic acid, in addition to the antitubercular standard regime, affects the hepatotoxicity profile. Methods Liver injury was induced in male BALB/c mice by administering, per os and daily for 11 weeks, a combination of anti-Tubercular (anti-TB) agents Rifampicin (10 mg/kg), Isoniazid (10 mg/kg), and Pyrazinamide (30 mg/kg). The ursolic acid and oleanolic acid mixture at doses of 100 or 200 μg/mouse/day was subcutaneously injected throughout the entire study period (11 weeks). Biochemical and hematological analysis was supplemented by liver histological examination. Results Animals treated with the mixture of triterpenic acids exhibited significantly decreased aspartate transaminase and alanine aminotransferase levels and amelioration of the histopathological alterations produced by the anti-TB drugs. Conclusions The triterpene mixture was able to prevent the steatosis induced by the anti-TB drugs.

Objective To identify the anti-inflammatory activity through two murine models and in the median Lethal Dose (LD

Drug-induced liver injury encompasses a spectrum of diseases ranging from mild biochemical abnormalities to acute liver failure; example of this scenery is hepatotoxicity caused by the first-line antituberculous drugs isoniazid, rifampin and pyrazinamide, which are basic for treatment of drug-sensible and drug-resistant tuberculosis. In the search for pharmacological alternatives to prevent liver damage, antitubercular drugs have been the subject of numerous studies and published reviews, a great majority of them carried out by Asian countries. At the same time, hepatoprotectors from plant source are now emerging as a possible alternative to counteract the toxic effects of these therapeutic agents. The present review aims to highlight the most recent studies on the subject, based information published in scientific databases such as Scopus and PubMed.