| Autor: |
Fahmy MEA; Medical Parasitology Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute (TBRI), Giza, Egypt., Abdel-Aal AA; Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.; Department of Postgraduate Studies & Scientific Research, Armed Forces College of Medicine (AFCM), Cairo, Egypt., Hassan SI; Medical Parasitology Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute (TBRI), Giza, Egypt., Shalaby MA; Medical Parasitology Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute (TBRI), Giza, Egypt., Esmat M; Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Misr University for Science and Technology, 6th October city, Egypt., Abdel Shafi IR; Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt., Afife AA; College of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Leicester University, United Kingdom., Shaheen HAA; Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. |
| Abstrakt: |
Toxoplasma gondii, the etiologic agent of toxoplasmosis, infects about 30 - 50% of the world population. The currently available anti-Toxoplasma agents have serious limitations. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of two antimalarials; buparvaquone (BPQ) and chloroquine (CQ), on immunocompromised mice with chronic cerebral toxoplasmosis, using spiramycin as a reference drug. The assessed parameters included the estimation of mortality rates (MR) among mice of the different study groups, in addition to the examination of the ultrastructural changes in the brain tissues by transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that only CQ treatment could decrease the MR significantly with zero deaths, while both spiramycin and BPQ caused an insignificant reduction of MR compared to the infected non-treated group. All the used drugs decreased the number of mature ruptured cysts significantly compared to the infected non-treated group, while only CQ increased the number of atrophic and necrotic cysts significantly. Furthermore, both spiramycin and BPQ improved the microvasculopathy and neurodegeneration accompanying the infection with different degrees of reactive astrocytosis and neuronal damage with the best results regarding the repair of the microvascular damage with less active glial cells, and normal neurons in the CQ-treated group. In conclusion, this study sheds light on CQ and its excellent impact on treating chronic cerebral toxoplasmosis in an immunocompromised mouse model. |
