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Background and Aim: Leishmania major is the responsible organism for cutuneous leishmaniasis. Many people are infected or at risk of infection with leishmania parasites. The drugs used for the treatment of leishmaniasis have unpleasant side-effects or are not effective. Therefore production of new and effective leishmanicidal agents is necessary. Artemisia spps have leishmanicidal property but there have been no report about such property in Artemisia spp. native to Khorasan Province. The objective of this study was to assess the leishmanicidal activity of 11 Artemisia spps. native to Khorasan Province. Materials and Methods: Eleven species of Artemisia were collected from Khorasan Provinces and their ethanol, ethylacetate, dichloromethan and hexan extracts were prepared. Leishmania major promastigotes were cultured in vitro in RPMI culture medium. Leishmanicidal effects of these extracts were evaluated by MTT assay and reported as 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50). Results: All extracts were inhibited proliferation of promastigotes in a dose-dependent manner. Ethanol extracts had the strongest effect and hexan extracts (except for A.fragrans) had the weakest effect. Ethanol extracts of A.kulbadica (IC50:0.025), A.ciniformis (IC50:0.025) and A.santolina (IC50:0.080) had the most potent leishmanicidal activity. All ethyl acetate extracts (except for A.fragrans and A.turanica) showed stronger leishmanicidal activity than dichloromethan extracts. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated Artemisia spp. from Khorasan Province are suitable plants to be assessed for leishmanicidal activity in vivo. So, isolation of effective compounds and determination of their structures will be necessary. Conflict of Interest: Nill Received: March 1, 2008 Accepted: August 9, 2008

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ABSTRACT Background and Aim: Protozoan parasite of genus Leishmania is the causative agent of leishmaniasis in humans, carnivorous animals and rodents. In Iran, Leishmania species are causes of cutaneous leishmaniasis which had been reported frequently from Isfahan. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a compound of Nerium oleander leaf, Ricinus communis oil, Capsicum spp. seeds, and almond on cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania species under laboratory conditions and its effect on the progression of cutaneous lesion in mice. Material and Methods: In this repeated experimental study, we obtained smears from the skin lesions of 10 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis randomly. 3 cases had positive smears (30%) which were cultured in NNN media with 10% FBS to obtain promastigotes of leishmania. The effects of boiled and sieved herbal compound (Nerium oleander leaf, Ricinus communis oil, Capsicum spp. seeds, and almond) on the promastigote propagation in NNN media with 10% FBS (5×104/μl) were investigated in triplicate and compared with control group. In the 4th week, 0.2 ml of enriched promastigote of Leishmania in RPMI was inoculated in the base of the tails of the mice in the test group (n=6) and control group (n=2). The effect of herbal compound on the progression of the lesion was investigated for 7 weeks. We used t-test for statistical analysis. Results: The number of Leishmania promastigotes in the group treated with herbal compound was significantly less than that in the control group. Also the herbal compound had significant preventive effect on the progression of the cutaneous lesion in the test group as compared to the control group. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the herbal compound had preventive effect on the parasite propagation and progression of cutaneous lesion. We recommend furthur studies on other pharmacological aspects of this herbal compound. Keywords: Nerium oleander, Leishmania spp., Promastigote, Iran. Received: Oct 30, 2012 Accepted: Jun 9, 2013 Conflict of interest: None declared