Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

Background and Objectives: Leishmaniasis has created global health problems in the developing countries with high endemicity such as Iran. Drug side effects and resistance and the lack of effective and safe vaccine have caused the new effective compounds from medicinal plants such as purslane to be attended. Therefore, the aim of this study was to introduce purslane as a traditional medicinal plant, which can be taken into consideration as a valuable source of new pharmaceutical agents against cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Material and Methods: This is a laboratory study conducted in Isfahan in the spring of 2015. In the first place, the methanol extract was prepared by soaking method and its combination was determined by mass chromatography gas method. L. major promastigotes were cultured in Schneider culture media and in the stationary phase in RPMI-1640 medium, respectively. Then, using colorimetric MTT (methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium), the biological activity of alcoholic extract of purslane  against L. major promastigotes was assessed in comparison to meglumine. The data were analyzed by the Tukey test and t-test using software SPSS16. Microscopic study results were presented as images and tables.

Resalts: IC50 for alcoholic extract of purslane against standard L. major promastigotes after 24, 48 and 72 hours were 690, 270 and 140 micrograms per mililiter and against clinical isolates of promastigotes of 1160, 385 and 140 micrograms per milliliter, respectively. IC50 for Glucantime equaled to 27, 12 and 8 micrograms per ml and 26, 19 and 11 micrograms per milliliter, respectively. There was a significant difference between the IC50 extract and glucantime drug after 24, 48 and 72 hours (p<0.05). There was observed cell shrinkage, roundness, compressed cytoplasm and smallness in the treated cells. Presence of alkaloids and flavonoids were detected in the alcoholic extract.

Conclusion: In regard to alcoholic extract of purslane had considerable anti-leishmanial effect in vitro, conducting more experiments to investigate its effect on the parasite in animal model also seems to be necessary.

Key words: Antileishmanial compounds, Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Methyl Tiasolyl Tetrasolium

Funding: The authors and Isfahan Seddigheh Tahereh Research Laboratory of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Ethical approval: The ethics Committee of Isfahan Seddigheh Tahereh Research Laboratory of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

How to cite this article: Gharirvand Eskandari E, Doudi M. The Study of Composition and Antileishmanial Effect of Portulaca Oleracea Aerial Organs Hydroalcoholic Extract on Leishmania Major (Mrho/Ir/75/Er) and a Clinical Isolate in Vitro. J Rafsanjan Univ Med Sci 2016; 15(5):425-38. [Farsi]