IN VITRO INHIBITORY ACTIVITY OF BERBERIS VULGARIS L. AGAINST LEISHMANIA TROPICA PROMASTIGOTES

Ahmet Ozbilgin; Husniye Kayalar; Ibrahim Cavus; Cenk Durmuskahya; Umit Toktas; Cumhur Gunduz

doi:10.22270/ujpr.v4i4.294

Ahmet Ozbilgin Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey
Husniye Kayalar Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
Ibrahim Cavus Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey.
Cenk Durmuskahya Department of Forest Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Izmir KatipCelebi University, Izmir, Turkey.
Umit Toktas Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.
Cumhur Gunduz Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey.

10.22270/ujpr.v4i4.294

Keywords:

Antileishmanial activity, inhibitory activities, Leishmania tropica promastigotes, plant extract

Abstract

Objective: In the present study it was aimed to determine the in vitro antileishmanial activity of Berberis vulgaris L. against Leishmania tropica promastigotes. The aerial parts of Berberis vulgaris were collected from Spil Mountain, Manisa.

Method: The ethanolic extract of the plant material was prepared. The consecutive concentrations of the plant extract (25-100µg/ml) were set for in vitro antileishmanial assays. In addition to in vitro inhibitory activities against Leishmania tropica promastigotes, the cytotoxicity of the plant extract was also measured by WST-1 Cell proliferation assay. The percentages of parasite inhibition in the presence of B. vulgaris ethanol extract in comparison with glucantime reference group at time interval of 12-72 hours were observed between 88.0 and 100.0 %. The plant extract was found to have cytotoxic activity with 444, 81±2, 12 µg/ml IC₅₀ value.

Conclusion: This is the first study that involves the in vitro antileishmanial activity of B. vulgaris which is wildly growing in Manisa, Turkey. Initial results demonstrated that the ethanolic extract of B. vulgaris gave promising results and it could be used as an antileishmanial agent in future.