Antileishmanial Activity of Carum Copticum Essential Oil Against Leishmania Major [MRHO/IR/75/ER]: An In Vitro Study

Because of the toxicity and side-effects of synthetic drugs, there is a growing interest in biomedical plants. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro antileishmanial activity of Carum copticum essential oil against Leishmania (L) major. Nineteen experimental groups were designed to determine the effect of Carum copticum essential oil against L. major and compare it with Meglumine antimonite. Group 1 was the control group and included 200 µl of RPMI 1640 plus 2×105 cells/ml promastigotes. Groups 2-10 included the aforementioned substances plus 10 µl of 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 µg/ml of Carum copticum essential oil respectively. Groups 11-19 were similar to groups 2-10 but Meglumine antimonite (0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 µg/ml) was used instead of Carum copticum essential oil. All the experiments were repeated five times. After 8 hours, the antileishmanial activities of studied substances were determined. Up to concentration of 0.5 µg/ml, no effect was observed with both substances. In comparison to control group, at 1 and 2 µg/ml, Meglumine antimonite had no effect on Leishmaniasis (p>0.05) while Carum copticum essential oil significantly decreased Leishmaniasis viability (p<0.05). Moreover, at 3 µg/ml, both compounds significantly decreased Leishmaniasis viability (p<0.05). However, Carum copticum essential oil had substantially better Antileishmanial activity than the other.   These results suggest that comparable concentrations, in vitro antileishmanial activity of Carum copticum essential oil is better than Meglumine antimonite.