Anti-Leishmania activity of the Mayan medicinal plant Thouinia paucidentata Radlk extracts

Abstract

Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula is an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis, locally known as the chiclero’s ulcer, and Mayan traditional medicine which refers to the use of Thouinia paucidentata Radlk, known as k’an chuunup. Aqueous and organic leaves extracts were evaluated against promastigotes and amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana. Toxicity tests of extracts were performed using Vero and J774A.1 macrophage cell lines. The composition of the most active extracts was analysed by GC-MS. The n-hexane and ethyl acetate extracts showed potent anti-Leishmania activity against the promastigote form, and remarkably, n-hexane extract exhibited potent activity against the amastigote form. Both extracts showed low toxicity on Vero both not on J774A.1 cells. Analysis of both bioactive extracts identified as more abundant compounds, germacrene D-4-ol and thunbergen in n-hexane, and thunbergol in ethyl acetate extracts. Our study presents T. paucidentata as anti-Leishmania phytomedicine supporting its medicinal use and contributes to the understanding of its phytochemical composition.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Mayan medicinal plant
• Thouinia paucidentata
• Leishmania mexicana
• amastigote
• promastigote
• cytotoxicity

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Biol. Giovanni Palma-Pech for authentication of medicinal plant, and Ms. Susan Drier-Jonas for the English language review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.