IN VITRO ANTIHELMINTHIC ACTIVITY OF ETHANOL ZINGIBER OFFICINALE EXTRACT ON FASCIOLA GIGANTICA IN COMPARISON TO TRICLABENDAZOLE

TOULAH, FAWZIA H.; ASHOOR, SAFINAZ J.; WAKID, MAJED H.; ALSHATHLY, MONA R.

doi:10.21608/jesp.2019.68063

IN VITRO ANTIHELMINTHIC ACTIVITY OF ETHANOL ZINGIBER OFFICINALE EXTRACT ON FASCIOLA GIGANTICA IN COMPARISON TO TRICLABENDAZOLE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

² Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

³ Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia.

10.21608/jesp.2019.68063

Abstract

Fascioliasis, caused by Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica, is considered one of the most important helminthes diseases among both humans and animals. The use of triclabendazole (TCBZ) as the only antihelminthic drug against fascioliasis faced recent problems being of many side effects and development of the drug resistance by the parasites. Given the widespread use of ginger (Zingiber officinale) in many traditional medicines and the various metabolic properties, this study aims to investigate the in vitro antihelminthic activity of Z. officinale ethanol extracts on F. gigantica in comparison to TCBZ. Fifty-four live adult F. gigantica worms were divided into nine groups of six in each, including positive control (G1), negative control (G2), triclabendazole sulfoxide (TCBZSO) of 20μg/ml (G3), ginger extract of 5, 25 and 50 mg/ml (G4, G5 and G6, respectively) and combined TCBZSO with ginger extract of 5, 25 and 50 mg/ml (G7, G8 and G9, respectively). The worm motility scores, survival index and histological examination were utilized to further analyze the effect of treatments on the worms' morphology. Results indicated a marked decrease in worms' motility treated with
ginger extracts compared to TCBZSO group. The observed decrease was positively correlated to both time and concentration. Histological examination showed that a higher concentration of ginger extract alone or in combination with TCBZSO caused severe tegumental alterations, more than those observed in TCBZSO treatment alone. In conclusion, the results strongly confirm the plausible development of ginger-based antihelminthic drug against F. gigantica infection.

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