THE IN-VITRO ACTIVITY OF VERNONIA-AMYGDALINA ON LEISHMANIA-AETHIOPICA

Anti-leishmanial activity or chloroform and methanol extracts of Verno nia amygdalina, a plant widely used in Ethiopia for the treatment of p arasitic infections, has been assessed in vitro on Leishmania aethiopi ca. Amastigotes were more sensitive to V. amygdalina than promastigote s. The chloroform extract had a stronger parasiticidal activity, with median effective doses (ED50) of 18.5 mug/ml and 13.3 mug/ml for proma stigotes and amastigotes, than the methanol extract with ED50 of 74.4 mug/ml and 45.8 mug/ml respectively. Cytotoxicity caused by V. amygdal ina to host cells, the human leukaemia monocyte THP-1 cell line, as de termined by the methyl tetrazolium assay, resulted in a median lethal dose (LD50) of 19.6 mug/ml for the chloroform extract and 243.4 mug/ml for the methanol extract. In comparison, the ED50 and LD50 of pentami dine, a standard anti-leishmanial drug, were 0.5 mug/ml and 1.4 mug/ml respectively. These results indicate that V. amygdalina displays pote nt anti-leishmanial activities and warrants further investigation.