AMELIORATATIVE EFFICACY OF CURCUMIN IN HEALING THE HISTOPATHOLOGICAL LESIONS IN SCHISTOSOMA MANSONI INFECTED MICE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port Said, Egypt.

2 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, 41522, Egypt

Abstract

Schistosoma species is a blood-parasite causing schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical pathological disorder affecting millions of people worldwide. This work studied the efficiency of curcumin in restoring liver and spleen ratios to body weight and enhancing the histological architecture in S. mansoni infected mice. Forty CD1 male mice were divided into
four groups (10mice/group). G1 (treated with phosphate buffer and act as control), G 2 (treated with curcumin), G3 (infected-untreated), and G4 (infected & treated with curcumin). After seven weeks of infection, each group was injected for three times/week intraperitoneal. The mice body weights were weekly recorded and they were sacrificed by the end of the 8th week. Liver and spleen were removed immediately and weighted to calculate their ratios to body weight. The histological sections of liver and spleen were prepared to study pathological changes between the different groups. Granuloma number and diameter change rate in liver were done. The result showed that schistosomiasis caused significant retardation in body weights in experimental mice. Curcumin mildly enhanced body weight in certain
weeks. Liver ratio to body weight was significantly reduced in infected mice treated with curcumin as compared with infected untreated ones. There was a marked improvement in liver and spleen histopathology in curcumin-treated mice.

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