Efficacy of artemether against toxocariasis in mice: parasitological and immunopathological changes in brain, liver, and lung

ABSTRACT

Toxocariasis is a zoonosis that represents a serious threat to public health particularly in tropical and subtropical areas. Currently, albendazole, the most effective drug for treating visceral toxocariasis, shows moderate efficacy against the larvae in tissues and has some adverse effects. Artemether is an antiparasitic drug mainly used in the treatment of malaria and showed effectiveness against numerous helminthic infections. Besides, it possesses potent anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, antifibrotic, and neuroprotective properties. Thus, the study’s aim was to investigate artemether’s effects in comparison with albendazole on the therapeutic outcome of experimental toxocariasis. For this aim, 140 laboratory-bred mice were divided into four main groups: uninfected control, treatment control, albendazole-treated, and artemether-treated groups. The treatment regimens were started at the 15^th dpi (early treatment), and at the 35^th dpi (late treatment). The effectiveness of treatment was determined by brain larval count, histopathological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical examination. Artemether showed more effectiveness than albendazole in reducing brain larval counts, markers of brain injury including NF-κB, GFAP, and caspase-3, the diameter and number of hepatic granulomas, hepatic oxidative stress, hepatic IL-6, and TG2 mRNA, and pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. The efficacy of artemether was the same when administered early or late in the infection. Finally, our findings illustrated that artemether might be a promising therapy for T. canis infection and it could be a good substitution for albendazole in toxocariasis treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Toxocara canis
• artemether
• GFAP
• caspase-3
• oxidative stress
• neuroinflammation
• qRT-PCR

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Amina M. Salama and Dina I. Elgendy designed the study. Rasha A. Elmahy, Amina M. Salama, and Dina I. Elgendy performed the practical research. Biochemical tests were carried out by Hoda A. Ibrahim. Alaa Ibrahim Mohamed Amer performed histopathology analyses. Dina I. Elgendy, Fotouh Rashed Mansour and Asmaa Fawzy Eltantawy analyzed the whole data. Dina I. Elgendy, Alaa Ibrahim Mohamed Amer, Hoda A. Ibrahim, Amina M. Salama, and Rasha A. Elmahy wrote the original draft. All authors shared in reviewing and editing the manuscript. All authors approved the publication of the version.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.