title: Efficacy of Essential Oils of Thymus vulgaris and Origanum vulgare on Echinococcus granulosus.
abstract: The aim of the present work was to determine the in vitro effect of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare essential oils against E. granulosus protoscoleces and cysts. Essential oils were added to the medium resulting in thymol final concentrations of 10 μg/mL. The essential oils had a time-dependent effect provoking the complete loss of protoscolex viability after 72 days of postincubation. The results were confirmed at the ultrastructure level. Loss of infectivity in protoscoleces incubated with O. vulgare after 60 days was observed. On the other hand, the weight of cysts recorded in mice inoculated with T. vulgaris treated protoscoleces was significantly lower than that obtained in control group. Gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase activity was readily detected in the culture supernatant of protoscoleces treated either with the essential oils or thymol. T. vulgaris and O. vulgare essential oils and thymol can induce cell apoptosis of protoscoleces after short incubation times. The efficacy of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare essential oils was also demonstrated in vitro on E. granulosus murine cysts. Our data suggest that essential oils of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare have anthelmintic effect against protoscoleces and cysts of E. granulosus.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Zoonosis Parasitarias, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina ; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Pensel
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Zoonosis Parasitarias, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina ; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Maggiore
authors.affiliation: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Laboratorio de Artrópodos, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Gende
authors.affiliation: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Laboratorio de Artrópodos, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Eguaras
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Zoonosis Parasitarias, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina ; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Denegri
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Zoonosis Parasitarias, Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Funes 3350, 7600 Mar del Plata, Argentina ; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Elissondo