Antileishmanial and cytotoxic potential of essential oils from medicinal plants in Northern Tunisia

• Twelve EOs and eight standards were evaluated for their leishmaniacide activity.
• Ferula communis EO showed the best antileishmanial activity with low cytotoxicity.
• β-Caryophyllene, geraniol, camphor, carvacrol were the most effective standards.
• Antileishmanial activity of EOs was better than that of major standards.
• L. major strain was more resistant to the treatment than L. infantum.

The current study investigated the putative antileishmanial and cytotoxic activity of twelve essential oils (EOs) and their major components on Leishmania (L.) major and Leishmania infantum promastigotes. Data showed that three EOs isolated from Ferula communis, Teucrium polium and Pelargonium graveolens displayed potent leishmaniacidal activity against L. major and L. infantum promastigotes (IC50 < 1 μg/mL) with low toxicity against Raw 264.7 macrophage cell line used as control. The best selectivity index was obtained for F. communis EO. Three major compounds namely β-caryophyllene, geraniol and carvacrol exhibited high leishmaniacidal activity with no evident cytotoxicity. Our study suggests that antileishmanial activity was not solely due to the major compounds from EOs but also to other components of the EOs. These findings could be a starting point for the development of new antileishmanial drugs from natural sources that combine various EOs containing bioactive compounds.

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