title: Inhibitory Activity of Eleven Artemisia Species from Iran against Leishmania Major Parasites.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Annual incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis is increasingly growing and development of the alternative drugs against it is a major concern. Artemisia genus is a traditional medicinal plant in Iran. The aim of this study was to examine the leishmanicidal activity of various Iranian Artemisia species extracts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Different extracts were gathered from eleven Iranian Artemisia species. Their leishmanicidal activities against the growth of Leishmania major (L. major) promastigotes were examined as the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) using MTT assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Obtained results showed that ethanol extracts especially those taken from A. ciniformis, A. santolina and A. kulbadica have the strongest effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Looking for the effective leishmanicidal agents from natural resources in Iran, we found that the ethanol extract of collected Artemisia species had significant effect on in vitro leishmanicidal activity and may be suitable candidates in the treatment of leishmaniasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Ahmad
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Emami
authors.forename: Shahrzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zamanai Taghizadeh Rabe
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahi
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmoudi
keywords: Artemisia; Leishmania major; Leishmanicidal activity; MTT assay; Promastigote