Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Parasitology 1735-7020 16 3 2021 08 31 464 473 Mehdi Najm Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Ramtin Hadighi Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Maryam Heidari-Kharaji Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)-Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie (CAFSB), Laval, Quebec, Canada Maryam Alipour Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Maryam Hajizadeh Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Raheleh Rafiei Sefiddashti Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Aliehsan Heidari Department of Medical Parasitology, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran Alireza Badirzadeh Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2020 12 13 2021 05 17 Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), is a widespread infectious disease with high mortality and morbidity. Various medications are used for treating the disease, but several side effects and drug resistance have been reported. Herbal medicines are unlimited sources for discovering new medications to treat infectious diseases. We aimed to determine the leishmanicidal activity of three species of Iranian Artemisia herbal plant extracts in in-vitro. Methods: In-vitro anti-leishmanial activity of ethanolic extracts on both promastigotes and amastigotes was determined by using MTT method. IC50, CC50, EC50 and SI were calculated. The study was done in 2019-2020 in Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Results: All of the three Artemisia species significantly reduced the number of parasite promastigotes. Among them, A. persica had the highest leishmanicidal activity against parasite promastigotes. Cytotoxicity assay elucidated that the Artemisia had no toxicity to the host cells, and killed the L. major amastigotes very efficiently. By increasing the dose of extracts, the parasite number in both phases (promastigotes and amastigotes) was reduced significantly. Conclusion: These results indicated satisfactory anti-leishmanial activity of Artemisia extracts against ZCL in-vitro. Accordingly, Artemisia ethanolic extracts might be considered as a strong, effective and safe herbal compound for clearing the L. major with less toxicity to the host macrophages cells. Hence, it may be recognized as an excellent herbal therapy for treating the ZCL. https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/view/3199 https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/download/3199/1157