In Vivo Efficacy of Drugs against <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> Combined with Immunomodulators

Abstract

SUMMARY:The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of pyrimethamine (PYR) and sulfadiazine (SDZ) combined with levamisole and echinacea on the survival of mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii. For this, we used 99 specific pathogen-free BALB/c mice. All the mice were infected intraperitoneally with 10 5 T. gondii tachyzoites and were divided into 11 groups, each including 9 mice. Except for the control group, oral treatment was initiated in all groups 24 h post infection and was continued for 10 days. The treatment regimen included dual combinations of PYR (dose, 6.25 and 12.5 mg/kg/day) and SDZ (dose, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day), triple combinations of PYR ＋ SDZ, and levamisole (dose, 2.5 mg/kg/day) or echinacea (dose, 130 and 260 mg/kg/day) and echinacea alone (dose, 130 and 260 mg/kg/day). We observed that an effective dose of the combination of PYR ＋ SDZ and levamisole resulted in a statistically significant increase in the survival rate from 33.3z to 88.9z. Similarly, half the dose of this combination resulted an increase in the survival rate from 0z to 44.4z ( p ＜ 0.05). Survival rate also increased in the groups treated with the combinations including echinacea; however, the difference did not reach statistical significance. The triple combination of PYR-SDZ-levamisole could be an alternative treatment option in case of infections caused by T. gondii.

Clinically Available Medicines Demonstrating Anti-Toxoplasma Activity

“…Recent advances in immunotherapeutics designed to boost the host response to the parasite or to parasite antigens may aid effective multispecies vaccine development, ideally resulting in disease prevention or reduction and interruption of transmission (105). Immunomodulators in combination with anti-Toxoplasma compounds are another area of future promise (106). While there are dozens of small molecules that have shown promise against T. gondii in vitro or in vivo, these are beyond the scope of this review, which addresses clinically available but uncommonly used options.…”

Anti-inflammatory and Anti-oxidative Effects of Some Medicinal Herbs on Chronic Murine Toxoplasmosis: A Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Study

“…Mice received pyrimethamine (12.5mg/kg) and sulfadiazine (200mg/kg) (Sigma Aldrich). Their active ingredients were calculated for each mouse for every dose, and after that, its ingredients were dissolved in 0.5ml of 0.5% Tween-80 solution and given as a combination according to [28]. Resveratrol (100mg/kg) was purchased as a powder from (Sigma Aldrich).…”