Medicinal plants with antileishmanial activity on parasites responsible for new-world cutaneous leishmaniasis. A systematic review 2018-2022

Context: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disease of public health importance; treatment is based on the use of pentavalent antimonials with high toxicity and low efficacy; therefore, it´s necessary to search for therapeutic alternatives derived from natural products, based on the study of medicinal plants as a source of molecules with highly effective leishmanicidal potential. Aims: To carry out a systematic review between 2018 and 2022 on medicinal plants with potential leishmanicidal activity on parasite strains from the New World causing cutaneous leishmaniasis. Methods: The review study was conducted in four phases following the PRISMA methodology. First, research questions and objectives were formulated to establish the topic areas and construct the search algorithm. Second, a search was performed across different databases, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO, Taylor and Francis, and Scielo. Third, articles were chosen based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, the relevant information for the review was systematically organized. Results: The search yielded 163 articles, and 12 of them were selected as the basis for the construction of the review. Ethanolic and aqueous extracts stand out, as well as biocompounds such as terpenes and flavonoids. Antioxidant activity on reactive oxygen species was the most frequently cited. Conclusions: Promising terpene and flavonoid molecules with high antileishmanial activity (IC50 <2 μM or <10 μg/mL and SI >1) were identified in this study; these findings provide a scientific basis for the traditional use that communities have given to plants as a therapeutic source to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis in the New World.