ArticlePloS one2015
The Effect of Ursolic Acid on Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis Is Related to Programed Cell Death and Presents Therapeutic Potential in Experimental Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Macrophage-targeted Hyaluronic-acid Coated Liposomes Bearing Ursolic Acid for Visceral Leishmaniasis: In Vitro Characterisation and Pharmacokinetic Analysis.Current microbiology · 2026Article
- Natural product-based therapeutic strategies againstFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Predicting Antileishmanial Activity of Plant-Derived Compounds Using Random Forest Modeling.microPublication biology · 2026Article
- Infectivity studies of Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi isolated from non-ulcerated cutaneous leishmaniasis.Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo · 2025Article
- Anticoccidial activity of the secondary metabolites in alpine plants frequently ingested by wild Japanese rock ptarmigans.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2024Article
- Antileishmanial Effects of Bunium Persicum Crude Extract, Essential Oil, and Cuminaldehyde on Leishmania Major: In Silico and In Vitro Properties.Acta parasitologica · 2023Article
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- Human Lung Cancer (A549) Cell Line Cytotoxicity and Anti-Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Antileishmanial Activities of Medicinal Herbs and Phytochemicals In Vitro and In Vivo: An Update for the Years 2015 to 2021.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Synthesis, Structure and Antileishmanial Evaluation of Endoperoxide-Pyrazole Hybrids.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- 1,2,4-Trioxolane and 1,2,4,5-Tetraoxane Endoperoxides against Old-WorldPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The Search for Putative Hits in Combating Leishmaniasis: The Contributions of Natural Products Over the Last Decade.Natural products and bioprospecting · 2021Review
- Preclinical Assessment of Ursolic Acid Loaded into Nanostructured Lipid Carriers in Experimental Visceral Leishmaniasis.Pharmaceutics · 2021Article
- Antiviral, Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Antiparasitic Properties of Propolis: A Review.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Insights of antiparasitic activity of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate against different strains of Trypanosoma cruzi.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Nano- and Microformulations to Advance Therapies for Visceral Leishmaniasis.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2021Review
- Nanotechnology based solutions for anti-leishmanial impediments: a detailed insight.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2021Review
- Leishmanicidal Activity and Ultrastructural Changes of Maslinic Acid Isolated fromEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Article
- Related Pentacyclic Triterpenes Have Immunomodulatory Activity in Chronic Experimental Visceral Leishmaniasis.Journal of immunology research · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Among neglected tropical diseases, leishmaniasis is one of the most important ones, affecting more than 12 million people worldwide. The available treatments are not well tolerated, and present diverse side effects, justifying the search for new therapeutic compounds. In the present study, the activity of ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA) were assayed in experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis (in vitro and in vivo). Promastigote forms of L. amazonensis were incubated with OA and UA for 24h, and effective concentration 50% (EC50) was estimated. Ultraestructural alterations in Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes after UA treatment were evaluated by transmission electron microscopy, and the possible mode of action was assayed through Annexin V and propidium iodide staining, caspase 3/7 activity, DNA fragmentation and transmembrane mitochondrial potential. The UA potential was evaluated in intracellular amastigotes, and its therapeutic potential was evaluated in L. amazonensis infected BALB/c mice. UA eliminated L. amazonensis promastigotes with an EC50 of 6.4 μg/mL, comparable with miltefosine, while OA presented only a marginal effect on promastigote forms at 100 μg/mL. The possible mechanism by which promastigotes were eliminated by UA was programmed cell death, independent of caspase 3/7, but it was highly dependent on mitochondria activity. UA was not toxic for peritoneal macrophages from BALB/c mice, and it was able to eliminate intracellular amastigotes, associated with nitric oxide (NO) production. OA did not eliminate amastigotes nor trigger NO. L. amazonensis infected BALB/c mice submitted to UA treatment presented lesser lesion size and parasitism compared to control. This study showed, for the first time, that UA eliminate promastigote forms through a mechanism associated with programed cell death, and importantly, was effective in vivo. Therefore, UA can be considered an interesting candidate for future tests as a prototype drug for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.
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