A study on the effect of hydroalcholic extracts of Cornus mas on Leishmania major in vitro condition and wounds in Balb/C mice

Antileishmaniasis drugs such as antimonials have problems such as disease recurrence, drug resistance, side effects and long-term treatment period. Therefore it seems necessary to search for new drugs, particularly herbal compounds with no side effects.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of hydroalcholic extract of Cornus mas on Leishmania major in vitro and wounds in Balb/c mice.

Various concentrations of hydroalcholic extract of Cornus mas were prepared using maceration method in 80% ethanol. Then, 100 μl RPMI medium containing 5×105 /well leishmania major promastigote was added to 96-well cell culture plates. Afterwards extract was added in each concentrations and the plate was incubated at 26 °C on 0h, 24h, 48h, and 72h. Then the MTT solution was added and absorbance was measured with ELISA reader in 570 nm in vivo: 60 Balb/c mouse after inoculation of L. major promastigote in the base their tail, after leishmaniasis lesions concentrations of 200 and 400 mg/kg of extract were injected to test groups one day in between for 30 days. Diameter and condition wound healing was recorded before and after the treatment. Then results were analyzed by SPSS software.

The findings revealed that the effect of C. mas on leishmania was dependent on dose of extract and time treatment also all concentrations of the extract could reduce the diameter of the wound and reduce parasitic load.

The results indicated that extract of C. mas had the favorable effect in leishmanicidal activity in experimental conditions and in the animal model. Based on this, it is recommended that the effect of the herbal ointment and gel in the future on leishmaniasis should be investigated.