背景:弓形虫(T。gondii)感染世界上三分之一的人口患有重大疾病,主要是免疫功能低下的个体和孕妇。弓形虫病的治疗选择是有限的,这意味着需要新的,强力,和安全的治疗选择。这项研究的目的是评估生姜乙醇提取物(Z.officinale)治疗感染RH弓形虫菌株的小鼠。
方法:采用气相色谱/质谱联用(GC/MS)技术对紫杉乙醇提取物的成分进行鉴定。将总共80只小鼠随机分配到四个实验组中,每组包含20只小鼠。第一组未感染(未感染对照),而三组分别以2500个速殖子/小鼠感染弓形虫RH毒株速殖子。一个感染组不予治疗(感染,未经处理),而其他两组则以200mg/kg和500mg/kg的剂量口服螺旋霉素(阳性对照)或Z.officinale乙醇提取物,分别为5天,从感染的那一天开始。每组10只小鼠用于评估不同组小鼠的存活率,而每组中的其他十只小鼠在感染后第5天(DPI)处死,以通过量化肝脏寄生虫负荷来评估治疗功效,肝功能,一氧化氮(NO)的产生,和抗氧化酶的水平。此外,进行了组织病理学研究,以评估Z.officinale治疗对弓形虫病引起的肝脏病理改变的治疗效果,大脑,还有脾脏.
结果:与未治疗的感染小鼠相比,用Z.officinale乙醇提取物治疗可将小鼠的生存期延长至第9dpi,直至第7dpi。在不同的时间点,与螺旋霉素治疗组相比,Z.officinale治疗组的小鼠存活百分比更高。与未经感染的未治疗小鼠相比,用Z.officinale提取物治疗的小鼠和用螺旋霉素治疗的小鼠的肝寄生虫负荷显着降低,这与血清肝酶水平显着降低有关(ALT,AST)和一氧化氮(NO),以及显著较高的过氧化氢酶(CAT)抗氧化酶活性。扫描电子显微镜(SEM)检查腹膜液中的速殖子显示,与未处理的受感染小鼠相比,Z.officinale治疗组的速殖子受到明显损伤。此外,用Z.officinale乙醇提取物治疗减轻了感染引起的病理改变,恢复了肝脏的正常组织形态,大脑,还有脾脏.
结论:我们的结果表明,在急性鼠类弓形虫病中,用Z.officinale治疗减轻了寄生虫负担并逆转了组织病理学和生化改变。这些发现支持了Z.officinale作为弓形虫病未来有效的天然治疗剂的潜在用途。需要进一步的研究来确定Z.officinale提取物中的有效活性成分,可以进一步优化用于治疗弓形虫病。
BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infects one third of the world\'s population with significant illness, mainly among immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women. Treatment options for toxoplasmosis are limited which signifies the need for novel, potent, and safe therapeutic options. The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the ethanolic extract of Zingiber officinale (Z. officinale) in treating mice infected with the RH T. gondii strain.
METHODS: Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to identify components of ethanolic extract of Z. officinale. A total of 80 mice were randomly allocated into four experimental groups that contained 20 mice each. The first group was left uninfected (uninfected control), while three groups were infected with T. gondii RH virulent strain tachyzoites at 2500 tachyzoites/mouse. One infected group was left untreated (infected, untreated), whereas the other two groups were treated orally with either spiramycin (positive control) or Z. officinale ethanolic extract at doses of 200 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg, respectively for 5 days, starting the day of infection. Ten mice from each group were used to assess mice survival in different groups, whereas the other ten mice in each group were sacrificed on the 5th day post-infectin (dpi) to estimate the treatment efficacy by quantifying liver
parasite load, liver function, nitric oxide (NO) production, and levels of antioxidant enzymes. Additionally, histopathological studies were performed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of Z. officinale treatment on toxoplasmosis-induced pathological alterations in liver, brain, and spleen.
RESULTS: Treatment with Z. officinale ethanolic extract extended the survival of mice till 9th dpi compared to 7th dpi in infected untreated mice. Higher percentage of mice survived in Z. officinale-treated group compared to spiramycin-treatment group at different time points. Liver
parasite loads were significantly lower in Z. officinale extract-treated mice and spiramycin-treated mice compared to infected untreated mice which correlated with significantly lower levels of serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST) and nitric oxide (NO), as well as significantly higher catalase (CAT) antioxidant enzyme activity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination of tachyzoites from the peritoneal fluid revealed marked damage in tachyzoites from Z. officinale-treated group compared to that from infected untreated mice. Moreover, treatment with Z. officinale ethanolic extract alleviated infection-induced pathological alterations and restored normal tissue morphology of liver, brain, and spleen.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that Z. officinale treatment reduced
parasite burden and reversed histopathological and biochemical alterations in acute murine toxoplasmosis. These findings support the potential utility of Z. officinale as a future effective natural therapeutic for toxoplasmosis. Further studies are needed to determine the effective active ingredient in Z. officinale extract that can be further optimized for treatment of toxoplasmosis.