Skip to main content
Log in

Synergism of macrocyclic lactones against Haemonchus contortus

  • Research
  • Published:
Parasitology Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A possible synergistic effect of macrocyclic lactones’ (MLs) combination has been previously described against resistant gastrointestinal nematodes of cattle. In addition to synergism, drug-drug interactions between MLs can also result in additive or antagonistic effect, considering the different MLs pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and interactions with molecular mechanisms of resistance. Therefore, the aim of the current work was evaluated the effect of different MLs combinations against Haemonchus contortus. Infecting larvae of two isolates (one susceptible and one resistant to ivermectin) were used in the larval migration inhibition test. After estimating the half maximal effective concentration of abamectin (ABA), eprinomectin, (EPR), ivermectin (IVM), and moxidectin (MOX) for both isolates, combinations were delineated by a simplex-centroid mixture experiment, and the mixture regression analysis was applied to the special cubic model. A synergistic effect was found for the EPR + MOX against the susceptible isolate as well as the EPR + MOX, IVM + MOX, and ABA + EPR + IVM against the resistant isolate. An antagonistic effect of ABA + IVM + MOX was found against the susceptible isolate. For the susceptible isolate, a higher inhibition was found with greater proportions of EPR and lower proportions of the other drugs compared to the reference mixture. For the resistant isolate, inhibition greater than that of the reference mixture was found with higher proportions of IVM as well as lower proportions of the other drugs. The synergistic and antagonistic effects were dependent on the following: (a) parasite drug resistance profile, (b) the composition of the combination, and (c) the proportions used, with EPR and IVM exerting a greater impact on these effects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Code availability

Not applicable.

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Doctor Alessandro Francisco Talamini do Amarante for generously furnishing the isolate of H. contortus susceptible to ivermectin.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were carried out by Matheus Takemi Muchon Nakatani, Dyego Gonçalves Lino Borges, Mário Henrique Conde, Mariana Green de Freitas, Juliane Francielle Tutija, Vinícius Duarte Rodrigues, and Guilherme Henrique Reckziegel. Data analysis were performed by Matheus Takemi Muchon Nakatani, Carlos Alexandre Carollo, and Fernando de Almeida Borges. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Matheus Takemi Muchon Nakatani, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matheus Takemi Muchon Nakatani.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

All procedures in this study are conformed to the guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals approved for Animal Research Ethics Committee of Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul with certificate number 983/2018.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Section Editor: Abdul Jabbar

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Figure 1S

Response optimization plots of combinations with synergistic effect according to optimal proportions of abamectin (ABA), eprinomectin (EPR), ivermectin (IVM) and moxidectin (MOX) in mixtures against susceptible (RsHco1) and resistant (FAMEZHco1) isolates. Current proportion in mixture (dashed line and values in red), estimated relative inhibition of larval migration (dashed line and valued [%] in blue -y), inhibition curve according to proportion (solid black line), lower limit (grey area, 50% for susceptible isolate and 60% for resistant isolate). (PNG 469 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 948 kb)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nakatani, M.T.M., Borges, D.G.L., Conde, M.H. et al. Synergism of macrocyclic lactones against Haemonchus contortus. Parasitol Res 122, 867–876 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07790-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07790-x

Keywords

Navigation