THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY OF CHITOSAN NANOPARTICLES LOADED WITH ALBENDAZOLE ON PARENTERAL PHASE OF EXPERIMENTAL TRICHINELLOSIS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin el-Kom, Menoufia, Egypt.

Abstract

Most of the drugs used for trichinellosis treatment showed a limited bioavailability, a high degree of resistance and a weak activity against encapsulated larvae. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new agents to improve the bioavailability of these drugs. So, the aim of the present study was to assess the use of chitosan (CH) nanoparticles alone or loaded with full and half dose albendazole (ABZ) to increase albendazole dissolution rate, to enhance its antiparasitic activity during the muscular phases of T. spiralis infection. Fifty male albino mice were used. They were divided into six experimental groups. Two control groups each includes five mice and four infected treated groups each includes ten mice. Chitosan nanoparticles were used orally at a dose of 100mg/kg/day starting from the 31st -day post infection (dpi) for seven successive days either alone or loaded with full dose or half dose of ABZ. Results revealed a significant improvement in all treated groups with the highest reduction rate (97.3%) of muscle larval counts, improvement of muscular histopathological changes, and degeneration of encysted larvae with minimal pathologic changes of infected skeletal muscles. A significant decrease in inducible nitric oxide synthetize (iNOS) expression in muscle tissues was in mice treated by CH loaded with a full dose of ABZ compared to control group.

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