Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It usually affects the lungs, but it can also affect other sites (extrapulmonary TB).

In the “Global Tuberculosis Report 2018”, TB is recognized as one of the 10 main causes of death worldwide and the main cause of a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS).

By the other hand, medicinal plants have been widely used to treat this disease. Some extracts derived from plants are known to have antimycobacterial properties, and can be of great significance in therapeutic treatments. For that reason, we aimed to evaluate the antimycobacterial activity of Cissus incisa leaves on a sensible strain. Three extracts were prepared from collected leaves of this plant: hexane, chloroform methanol (1:1) and aqueous. The antitubercular activity was evaluated on M. Tuberculosis H37RV strain (ATCC), using Alamar Blue assay. The hexane and chloroform/methanol extracts were the most active (MIC=250 μg/mL). Until the best of our knowledge, there are no studies related to the traditional use of this plant for treat tuberculosis.

The present investigation will contribute to the discovery of potential antibacterial agents derived from plants, and to expand the use of C. incisa in traditional medicine.