In vitro Anti-leishmanial Activity of Glucosinolate Fraction from Alyssum linifolium Steph. ex. Willd (Brassicaceae)

INTRODUCTION: The intracellular parasitic protozoan, Leishmania spp., causes several forms of diseases in humans. Cytotoxicity and emergence of new strains resistance to the current anti-leishmanial drugs have encouraged researchers to focus on new resources. Glucosinolates are found mainly in the Brassicaceae family with potential cytotoxic and anti-parasitic properties. The present study reports in vitro anti-leishmanial activity of glucosinolate (GSL) fraction from Alyssum linifolium seeds against Leishmania major.
METHODS: The GSL fraction was prepared by ion-exchange and reversed-phase chromatography. For assessment of antileishmanial activity, the promastigotes and amastigotes of L. major were treated with different concentrations of the fraction (75-625 μg/mL).
RESULTS: The IC50 was 245 µg/mL for anti-promastigote effect of GSL fraction and 250 µg/mL for its anti-amastigote effect which had significant difference (P<0.05) with both Glucantime and amphotericin B. The selectivity index of GSL fraction (15.8), like Glucantime and amphotericin B, was greater than 10, indicating the selective effect of this fraction against L. major amastigotes. Glucoiberverin was the major constituent of GSL fraction characterized using NMR and EI-MS spectra. Based on GC-MS data, iberverin and iberverin nitrile, the hydrolysis constituents from glucoiberverin, included 76.91% of the total seed volatiles.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results suggest that glucosinolates like glucoiberverin could be considered as a new promising candidate for further studies on anti-leishmanial activity.