Parasitol Res. 2012 Jan;110(1):493-8. doi: 10.1007/s00436-011-2551-9. Epub 2011 Jul 12.
- 1Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 793 022, India. akynehu@hotmail.com
Abstract
Trichinellosis is a widespread zoonoses
for which no effective drug treatment is available at this time. Though
anthelmintics such as mebendazole and albendazole are commonly used to
treat human trichinellosis, none of these drugs are fully effective
against the encysted or new-born larvae of Trichinella spiralis. In
recent years, there has been a growing interest in developing newer
anthelminthics from medicinal plants,
particularly the ones used in traditional medicines in many parts of
the world, due to the increasing spread of anthelminthic resistance
and/or decreasing activity against encapsulated larval stages of
parasites. The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy
of leaf extract of Lasia spinosa (Araceae) against different life cycle
stages of T. spiralis, i.e. adult (days 3 and 4 post-infection),
migrating larvae (days 8, 9 and 10 post-infection) and encysted muscle
larvae (days 31-37 post-infection). The study showed that L. spinosa
leaf extract is effective against all the three life cycle stages of
parasite. Against the adult stage, an oral administration of plant
extract at 800 mg/kg dose revealed a 75.30% reduction in the number of
adult worms, as compared to untreated controls at day 10 post-infection.
Whereas against migrating larvae, the same dose of plant extract given
for 3 days, reduced the number of larvae recovered from musculature of
treated animals by 72.23%. However, in comparison of preceding two
stages, the extract showed comparatively less efficacy against the
encysted larvae of parasite. In this case, the 800 mg/kg dose of extract
given for 7 days (after 30 day of post-infection) revealed only 64.84%
reduction in the number of encysted larvae, as was evident from larval
count on day 49 post-infection. Therefore, the results of this study
indicate that leaf extract of L. spinosa possesses significant
anthelminthic efficacy against the adult stages and migrating larvae of
T. spiralis. On the other hand, the encysted muscle larvae of parasite
are comparatively less sensitive to L. spinosa leaf extract treatment.
