Authors: Rasha F Mady Wessam ElHadidy Samar Elachy
Publish Date: 2015/10/07
Volume: 115, Issue: 1, Pages: 379-390
Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii protozoon It is most commonly treated by pyrimethamine PYR however this was intolerable by many patients The aim of this study was to assess therapeutic effects of Nigella sativa oil NSO alone and combined with pyrimethamine PYR compared to a previous combination of clindamycin CLN and PYR One hundred Albino mice were used in the current study and were equally divided into five groups normal I infected untreated control II infected treated with NSOonly III infected treated with NSO + PYR IV and infected treated with CLN + PYR V The virulent RH Toxoplasma strain was used in infection survival rates estimation impression smears from liver and spleen and histopathological and ultrastructural studies were done Liver malondialdehyde MDA level and total antioxidant capacity TAC were determined Interferonγ and specific IgM were also measured in sera by ELISA Results showed that NSO alone has no direct antiToxoplasma effect whereas its combination with PYR produced potent effect that is comparable to CLN + PYR It significantly increased the survival rate and decreased the parasite density and pathological insult in both liver and spleen Also significant increase in interferonγ level denotes stimulation of cellular immunity NSO + PYR combination markedly improved the antioxidant capacity of Toxoplasma infected mice compared to the infected untreated ones and to CLN/PYR In conclusion although NSO if administered alone has significant immunostimulant and antioxidant properties it failed to decrease tachyzoite counts Combination of NSO and PYR had synergistic effect in treatment of toxoplasmosis
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