Abstract

Therapeutic Efficacy of Flavonoids and Terpenoids an Ongoing Herbal Therapy in the Treatment of Leishmaniasis

Author(s): Chandrasekar R*, Subasish Debnath, Sivagami B, Jayasree P and Niranjan Babu M

Leishmaniasis is an epidemic disease caused by Leishmania parasite. Leishmaniasis is a major disease worldwide many people are affected by this disease. The prevalence of the disease is seen in many countries around the world since many millions are affected by the disease in different countries and thousands of deaths occur every year this is a neglected tropical disease. There are more than 20 species in the world. The parasite develops its life cycle in sand flies. The disease is transmitted by the phlebotomine sand fly which lives in rodents, dogs etc. This parasite uses animals like dogs as a host and develops its life cycle and this disease is carried over to humans through a bite of the insect. This disease is caused due to poor sanitary conditions. The treatments with synthetic drugs have severe side effects and the treatment is very expensive. A major development is seen in developing countries like India in finding new herbal entities to eradicate the disease through herbal remedies. An attempt has been made to review flavonoids and terpenoids their biological role in the treatment of leishmaniasis, these are major secondary metabolite used in the treatment of leishmaniasis by producing therapeutic efficacy against many diseases like visceral leishmaniasis. They are equally potent to marketed antileishmanial drug. This review gives the significance of flavonoids and terpenoids as potent compounds with biological activity present naturally in many plants, fruits, vegetables, as coloured pigments, etc. these compounds can be isolated their therapeutic efficacy can be tested and they can develop promising activities against many diseases.