Punica granatum and amygdalin extracts plus cobalamin combined with albendazole reduce larval burden and myositis in experimental trichinosis

Abstract

Trichinellosis is a zoonosis results from eating raw or semi-cooked meat of infected animals. Medicinal plants have been used lately as alternatives and/or combined therapies to resolve some drawbacks of the current regimens. This work analyzed the effect of albendazole monotherapy on Trichinella spiralis experimental infection (group A), in comparison to P. granatum and amygdalin extracts +cobalamin (group B), plus its combination with albendazole (group C). The study revealed that the extracts alone or combined with albendazole had an inferior effect to albendazole monotherapy regarding number of adult worms (40.83 ±3.82, 18.67 ±1.86 and 16.83 ±2.32, respectively). However, their effect was more obvious in muscle phase combined with albendazole, achieving the lower number of larvae/mL tissue homogenate (22.33 ±3.27 in comparison to 39.67 ±2.58 achieved by albendazole monotherapy). The extracts exerted a significant immunomodulatory effect by reducing the local CD4+ expression in the intestine as well as in muscle phase (1.15 ±0.25 and 3.80 ±0.65 in comparison to 4.97 ±0.37 and 12.20 ±0.87 with albendazole monotherapy, respectively). So, these extracts improved the therapeutic efficacy of albendazole, specifically in muscle phase and counteracted the inflammatory reaction caused by albendazole monotherapy, thus extensively alleviating the resulting myositis.

Pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita pepo subsp. ovifera) decoction promotes Trichinella spiralis expulsion during intestinal phase via “Weep and Sweep” mechanism

“…Our results demonstrated that pumpkin decoction significantly minimized the number of parasites in intestine by about 69.60%, compared to the infected group. Many plant extracts can reduce intestinal adult burden of T. spiralis including, Balanites aegyptica fruits 57 , myrrh ( Commiphora molmol ) and, thyme ( Thymus vulgaris L.) 58 , and Punica granatum peel 31 . Also, many plant extracts showed toxic effect on T. spiralis in vitro as Lipidium sativum (garden cress), and Commiphora molmol (myrrh) 59 .…”

“…The tested dose of pumpkin decoction and honey mixture was 500 mg/kg/day for 5 days. The reference drug, Albendazole was tested at its recommended dose; 50 mg/kg/day 31 and received from the 2nd dpi for 5 successive days, orally via gastric tube.…”

A mini Review of New Potential Therapeutic Strategies Against Trichinellosis

“…Punica granatum extract from a fruit commonly known as pomegranate showed anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that showed an anti-trichinellosis effect (Al-Megrin, 2017;Dkhil et al, 2019). Esmat et al (2021) also stated that the P. granatum and amygdalin extracts with cobalamin when combined with albendazole can decrease larval pathology and myositis from T. spiralis.…”

Evaluation of the therapeutic effect of Olibanum extract against enteric and intramuscular phases of trichinosis in experimentally infected mice

“…The T. spiralis larvae were recovered and washed twice with distilled water before being suspended in 150 mL of tap water (Ashour et al 2016). Under an inverted microscope, the number of sedimented larvae was determined (Esmat et al 2021).…”