Anti-leishmanial effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves, roots and seeds of Arctium lappa.

Objective: Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis is a common including endemic infectious disease in many parts of the world and Iran. Due to Arctium lappa wide therapeutic applications, the anti-leishmanial effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of its leaves (L), roots (R) and seeds (S) has been investigated in this research.

Materials and methods: The leaves, seeds and roots of the greater burdock plant were extracted. In the in vitro phase, its cytotoxic and anti-leishmanial effects on promastigote and amastigote forms of Leishmania major(L.major) were investigated. In the in vivo stage, the leishmaniasis mouse model was dosed with concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg and the liver and spleen parasite burden was checked.

Results: The results of this research in the in vitro phase showed that the antileishmanial effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of leaves, roots and seeds on the promastigote and amastigote forms of L. major has a significant relationship with the increase in the concentration of the extract (for all p≤0.001). Also, exposure time and interaction effect of concentration and exposure time were significant. In the in vivo phase the significant effect of the increase in concentration (L: p≤0.001, R: p=0.02, S: p=0.03), exposure time (L: p≤0.001, R: p≤0.001, S: p≤0.01) and the interaction effect of these two factors (L: p=0.002, R: p≤0.001, S: p≤0.001) on reducing the size of the wound was shown.

Conclusion: The investigation established that hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves, roots, and seeds of the greater burdock in high concentration exhibited beneficial inhibitory effects on the leishmanial lesions.