AsteraceaeArtemisia campestrisandArtemisia herba-albaEssential Oils Trigger Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest inLeishmania infantumPromastigotes

Abstract

We report the chemical composition and anti-Leishmaniaand antioxidant activity ofArtemisia campestrisL. andArtemisia herba-albaAsso. essential oils (EOs). Our results showed that these extracts exhibit different antioxidant activities according to the used assay. The radical scavenging effects determined by DPPH assay were of IC50= 3.3 mg/mL and IC50= 9.1 mg/mL forArtemisia campestrisandArtemisia herba-albaessential oils, respectively. However, antioxidant effects of both essential oils, determined by ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, were in the same range (2.3 and 2.97 mg eq EDTA/g EO, resp.), while theArtemisia herba-albaessential oil showed highest chelating activity of Fe2+ions (27.48 mM Fe2+). Interestingly, we showed that both EOs possess dose-dependent activity againstLeishmania infantumpromastigotes with IC50values of 68 μg/mL and 44 μg/mL forA. herba-albaandA. campestris, respectively. We reported, for the first time, that antileishmanial activity of both EOs was mediated by cell apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest at the sub-G0/G1 phase. All our results showed that EOs fromA. herba-albaandA. campestrisplants are promising candidates as anti-Leishmaniamedicinal products.