title: Activity of minocycline against Toxoplasma gondii infection in mice.
abstract: The chemotherapeutic activity of minocycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline analogue, was evaluated in a murine model of toxoplasmosis. A lethal acute toxoplasmosis was produced by injecting 10(5) tachyzoites of the RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii into the peritoneal cavities of Swiss-Webster mice. When infected mice were treated once daily for 12 days, starting 2 h after challenge, the survival and cure rates were 100% and 40% respectively after minocycline alone (100 mg/kg per day), 0% and 0% after pyrimethamine alone (8.5 mg/kg per day), and 100% and 50% after combination of the two drugs at the same dosages. Absolute survival and cure with minocycline were observed when mice were treated with two daily doses of 100 mg/kg for 12 days. Mice chronically infected with a low virulent strain of T. gondii (Me49) showed a significant reduction in the number of brain cysts after three weeks of treatment with 50 mg/kg per day of minocycline. Minocycline serum levels after a single oral administration of 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg to normal mice, peaked at 1.8 mg/l and 10 mg/l after 1 h, respectively, and showed an extended half-life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Geneva Medical School, Switzerland.
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Comte
authors.forename: P F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Piguet
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pechère
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008911:Minocycline / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011739:Pyrimethamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012074:Remission Induction; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D008911:Minocycline; D011739:Pyrimethamine