Antileishmanial and antibacterial activities of the hydroalcoholic extract of Rhus coriaria L

Leishmaniosis is one of the most serious public health concern with a worldwide distribution. Since the current treatments of leishmaniosis are toxic and expensive, frequent studies have been conducted to investigate the benefits of new resources such as medicinal plants for treatment of this infectious disease. Recent studies revealed the antiparasitic potential of Rhus coriaria. Here we investigated the potential antileishmanial and antibacterial activities of the hydroalcoholic extract of R. coriaria fruits. The fruits were extracted using 80% methanol by maceration method. The concentrations of 312, 156, 78, and 37 μg/ml of the extract were added separately to the wells containing Leishmania major (L. major) promastigotes and amastigotes. Amphotericin B was considered as positive control. Finally, the death rate was determined for the extract-treated parasites as compared to the non-treated parasite. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by measurement of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the extract against a set of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The extract significantly inhibited the growth of both promastigotes (60,7%) and amastigotes (59%) at the concentration of 312 μg/ml with the IC50 values of 147 μg/ml and 233 μg/ml, respectively. The extract showed bactericidal effects against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Totally, Grampositive bacteria were more susceptible to the extract. Our findings show that the hydroalcoholic extract of R. coriaria fruits are rich in tannins and can be considered for further in vivo studies on the antileishmanial and antibacterial activities especially on dermal lesions caused by L. major.