Exploration of antileishmanial activity in heterocycles ; results of their in vivo & in vitro bioevaluations

Abstract A total of 51 imidazoles, pyrroles, quinolines and isoxazolines compounds were screened for antileishmanial activity in vivo and in vitro, using Leishmania donovani as the test parasite. The screening revealed hitherto unknown antileishmanial activity in these heterocycles. Three of the compounds screened (one belonging to isoxazoline series and two from pyrrole series) showed significant anti-leishmanial activity, ranging from 86-91 per cent inhibition in hamsters. When tested in vitro, using macrophage amastigote culture system, these compounds showed inhibition of 62-78 per cent at 30 micrograms/ml concentration.