title: In vitro protoscolicidal effects of fungal chitosan isolated from Penicillium waksmanii and Penicillium citrinum.
abstract: Hydatidosis is caused by a tapeworm which infects humans by the larval stage. In humans, the disease is so serious that it requires surgery for treatment. Documents show that there have been many efforts in finding new scolicidal agents for reducing the rate of the infection. The objective of this study was determination of the scolicidal effect of two fungal chitosan types, produced from Penicillium spp. and commercially chitosan (CC) on Echinococcus granulosus protoscolex. Protoscolices were aseptically aspirated from sheep livers hydatid cysts. Four concentrations (50, 100, 200, 400 μg/ml) of each type of prepared chitosan were used for 10, 30, 60 and 180 min. Viability of protoscolices was detected by 0.1 % eosin staining. Fungal chitosan which was the most bioactive type with higher degree of deacetylation showed stronger scolicidal activity in vitro (P < 0.05). Fungal chitosan could be recommended, as good as CC for hydatid cysts control and is a noble alternative for synthetic and chemical scolicidal.
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Cell Biology Research Center, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fakhar
authors.affiliation: Student Research Committee, School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Aroona
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chabra
authors.affiliation: Toxoplasmosis Research Center, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Bahman
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rahimi-Esboei
authors.affiliation: Toxoplasmosis Research Center, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rezaei
keywords: Chitosan; Echinococcus granulosus; Penicillium; Protoscolices