Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Parasitology 1735-7020 9 1 2014 03 15 28 36 EN Hossein Mahmoudvand Dept. of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran AND Leishmaniasis Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Fariba Sharififar Dept. of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Iraj Sharifi Leishmaniasis Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Behrouz Ezatpour Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran. Majid Fasihi Harandi Dept. of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Mahsa Sadat Makki Dept. of Medical Parasitology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Naser Zia-Ali Dept. of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Sareh Jahanbakhsh Dept. of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran AND Leishmaniasis Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. 2015 10 14   Background: Leishmaniasis has been identified as a major public health problem in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The present study was aimed to investigate antileishmanial effects of various extracts of Berberis vulgaris also its active com-poenent, berberine against Leishmania tropica and L. infantum species on in vitro ex-periments. Methods: In this study in vitro antileishmanial activity of various extracts of B. vul-garis also its active compoenent, berberine against promastigote and amastigote stages of L. tropica and L. infantum was evaluated, using MTT assay and in a macro-phage model, respectively. Furthermore, infectivity rate and cytotoxicity effects of B. vulgaris and berberine in murine macrophage cells were investigated. Results: The findings of optical density (OD) and IC50 indicated that B. vulgaris particulary berberine significantly (P<0.05) inhibited the growth rate of pro-mastigote stage of L.tropica and L.infantum in comparison to meglumine antimoniate (MA). In addition, B. vulgaris and berberine significantly (P<0.05) decreased the mean number of amastigotes in each macrophage as compared with positive con-trol. In the evaluation of cytotoxicity effects, it could be observed that berberine as compared with B. vulgaris exhibited more cytotoxicity against murine macrophages. Results also showed that when parasites were pre-incubated with B. vulgaris their ability to infect murine macrophages was significantly decreased. Conclusion: B.vulgaris particularly berberine exhibited potent in vitro leishmanicid-al effects against L. tropica and L.infantum. Further works are required to evaluate the antileishmanial effects of B.vulgaris on Leishmania species using clinical settings. https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/view/436 https://ijpa.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijpa/article/download/436/302