title: Evaluation of avocado/soybean unsaponifiable alone or concurrently with praziquantel in murine schistosomiasis.
abstract: Aiming to study the influence of administration of avocado/soybean unsaponifiable (ASU) alone or concurrently with praziquantel (PZQ) on Schistosoma mansoni-infected mice, this study was established. ASU (300mg/kg) was administered orally at 3 time intervals; 30 days prior to infection, 1 day post-infection (pi), 3 weeks pi and continued until week 7 pi. All the mice were sacrificed 9 weeks pi. Administration of ASU either prior to the infection or 1 day pi resulted in significant elimination of 30.2% and 19.1% of the recovered worms, respectively, and caused mild, to moderate surface, ultrastructure damage in some worms. The reduction in worm burden was proportional to the number of coupled worms, indicating a possible uncoupling nature of ASU. ASU significantly decreased the number of eggs/g of the liver and altered oogram pattern in both infected and PZQ-treated groups. The time and duration of ASU administration clearly affected the worm and egg loads. ASU significantly reduced granuloma sizes, and the levels of the cytokines, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4), in both infected and PZQ-treated groups indicating its anti-inflammatory activity. Taken together, these findings suggest that long term administration of ASU may result in a mild course of murine schistosomiasis and may be a promising complementary treatment to PZQ.
authors.affiliation: Zoology Department, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. maha soliman@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Maha F M
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Soliman
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000379:methods; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D027421:Persea / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D011223:Praziquantel / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000187:drug effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D013025:Glycine max / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics; D016207:Cytokines; D010936:Plant Extracts; D011223:Praziquantel