Leishmaniasis is considered a public health problem, mainly due to the presence of different species of enzootic Leishmania, involving many different hosts and insect vectors. The pentavalent antimony remain the first choice drugs for the treatment of leishmaniasis for more than 50 years, however, its use has been compromised due mainly to the parasite developed resistance to the drug. Thus, the choice of drugs derived from plants based on the study and use of traditional medicine practices should appear as a new strategy for the control of leishmaniasis. However, it is important to note that some of these drugs can be toxic to the body and may even have genotoxic properties, causing changes in DNA with consequent increased risk of carcinogenesis. Julocrotine (2 -[N-(2-methylbutanolyl)]-N-phenylethylglutarimide) is an alkaloid isolated from the species Croton pullei var. glabrior Lanj. (Euphorbiaceae), widely found in the Amazon jungle and known to possess potent leishmanicidal effect. Thus, the present study evaluated the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of julocrotina using the MTT and the Comet Assays in cultured human lymphocytes. Our results showed that the alkaloid did not show cytotoxicity in human lymphocytes at the concentrations tested. However, julocrotine showed to be genotoxic to human lymphocytes treated with the highest concentration (632μM) of the substance. Although the cytotoxicity results seem promising with respect to the use of julocrotina in the treatment of leishmaniasis, the genotoxic effect observed reinforces the need to obtain the necessary cautions for its use as an herbal leishmanicidal.
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