title: Treatment of malaria in a mouse model by intranasal drug administration.
abstract: The goal of this work was to investigate intranasal dihydroartemisinin (DHA) delivery as a non-invasive method for treatment of malaria. ICR female mice were infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA, a model for severe malaria with similarities to the human disease. DHA, at a dose of 2 x 5mg/kg/day, was administered to mice either intranasally or i.p. Two dosage regimens were tested: prophylaxis and treatment. Parasitemia was monitored every other day, from the time of infection, by thin smears prepared from tail blood. The survival rates in prophylaxis and treatment regimens were 93% and 75%, respectively, for intranasal DHA and this route was at least as effective as the i.p. route used for comparison. All mice in the untreated control and placebo groups succumbed due to the parasitemia. The results show that DHA nasal administration to mice was highly efficient in the treatment of Plasmodium infection in infected rodents. This novel mode of drug administration may be considered as an alternative to conventional treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12065, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. touitou@cc.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Elka
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Touitou
authors.forename: Judith H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Waknine
authors.forename: Biana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Godin
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Golenser
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000818:Animals; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016779:Malaria, Cerebral / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000188:drug therapy; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000187:drug effects*; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C039060:artenimol