Boswellic Acids Show In Vitro Activity against Leishmania donovani.

In continuation of our search for leads from medicinal plants against protozoal pathogens, we detected antileishmanial activity in polar fractions of a dichloromethane extract from Boswellia serrata resin. 11-keto-β-boswellic acid (KBA) could be isolated from these fractions and was tested in vitro against Leishmania donovani axenic amastigotes along with five further boswellic acid derivatives. 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA) showed the strongest activity with an IC50 value of 0.88 µM against axenic amastigotes but was inactive against intracellular amastigotes in murine macrophages.