Abstract
We recently standardised Mesocestoides vogae (syn. corti) tetrathyridia cultures in the presence of sodium taurocholate. Parasite clustering and segmentation were observed as taurocholate-dependent effects in biphasic and monophasic media, respectively, and both were inhibited by a specific minimum inhibitory concentration (m.i.c.) of the cestocidal drugs albendazol and praziquantel. In the present study, we analysed the relationship between clustering inhibition and drug toxicity using praziquantel and a mouse experimental infection. In an "in vitro–in vivo" trial, a significant (ANOVA, P<0.05) reduction was observed in the infectivity of tetrathyridia previously cultured with praziquantel m.i.c. (0.06 µg/ml) for 10 days. In an "in vivo–in vitro" trial, the clustering of tetrathyridia recovered from mice treated with praziquantel was found to be markedly reduced: 22%, compared with 83% cluster-containing wells of parasites from control mice. These results show that the outcome of infection and the suppression of taurocholate-induced clustering provide consistent indications of praziquantel toxicity against M. vogae, an observation confirmed by histological studies. The easily recorded clustering inhibition of M. vogae tetrathyridia in biphasic medium is a potentially useful system for the assessment of drug toxicity against cestode larvae..
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Acknowledgements
The Animal Care Committee of the Faculty of Chemistry approved the protocols for the in vivo experiments. These were carried out following the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. This work was supported by grants from PEDECIBA (Project URU/97/016) and CSIC (Uruguay). We would like to thank Luis Abad and Marcelo Fernández for careful animal maintenance; Dr Carlos Carmona for the use of histology facilities; and Oxoid Laboratory (UK) for providing the nutrient parasite gel.
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Saldaña, J., Casaravilla, C., Marín, M. et al. The toxicity of praziquantel against Mesocestoides vogae (syn. corti) tetrathyridia can be assessed using a novel in vitro system. Parasitol Res 89, 467–472 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-002-0801-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-002-0801-6