Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Dammam, Dammam 31311, Saudi Arabia.
Exp Parasitol. 2013 Aug;134(4):482-94. doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2013.05.004. Epub 2013 May 16.
The current treatments for cryptosporidiosis are ineffective, and there is an urgent need to search for more effective and safer alternatives. One such alternative may be treatments derived from natural resources. The pomegranate peel has been used effectively in traditional medicine to cure diarrhea and dysentery. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a Punica granatum (pomegranate) peel suspension as a treatment for Cryptosporidium parvum infection. In this study, the effects of this treatment on the ultrastructure of both the intestinal epithelial layer of infected nursling mice and the parasite were observed with a transmission electron microscope. The histological study focused on the examination of the microvilli, columnar epithelium, goblet cells, lamina propria, and crypts of Lieberkuhn. Examination of the ileums of infected mice that received the pomegranate peel suspension demonstrated that the general structure of the ileal tissue of these mice was similar to that of the control group. In the infected mice treated with the suspension, but not the infected/untreated mice, there was an improvement in all ultrastructure aspects at 28days post-inoculation. The study of the ultrastructure of the parasite (C. parvum) in mice treated with the suspension showed that there was decomposition in the parasite to the extent that in some cases we were unable to identify the stage of the parasite due to the severe degeneration. Significant decomposition of the nutrition organ was also observed. Additionally, microgamonte and macrogamonte were not observed in the suspension-treated group, explaining the disappearance of the sexual phases of the parasite in the lumens of this group. In all, this examination demonstrated the restoration of the normal structures of villi and the disappearance of acute symptoms in the suspension-treated mice and showed that the suspension directly affected the parasite at various stages of its development and led to its decomposition and death.
目前针对隐孢子虫病的治疗方法效果不佳，因此急需寻找更有效、更安全的替代方法。一种可能的替代方法是利用自然资源开发治疗方法。石榴皮在传统医学中被有效用于治疗腹泻和痢疾。本研究旨在探讨石榴皮悬液作为治疗微小隐孢子虫感染的疗效。本研究使用透射电子显微镜观察该治疗方法对感染乳鼠肠上皮层和寄生虫的超微结构的影响。组织学研究重点观察微绒毛、柱状上皮、杯状细胞、固有层和李氏隐窝。对接受石榴皮悬液治疗的感染小鼠回肠的检查表明，这些小鼠的回肠组织的一般结构与对照组相似。在接受悬浮液治疗但未接受感染/未治疗的感染小鼠中，在接种后 28 天所有超微结构方面都有所改善。对用悬浮液治疗的寄生虫（微小隐孢子虫）超微结构的研究表明，寄生虫发生了分解，在某些情况下，由于严重退化，我们无法识别寄生虫的阶段。还观察到营养器官的明显分解。此外，在悬浮液治疗组中未观察到微配子体和大配子体，这解释了寄生虫的有性阶段在该组腔道中消失的原因。总之，该检查证明了悬浮液治疗组的绒毛正常结构得到了恢复，急性症状消失，并且悬浮液直接影响寄生虫在其各个发育阶段，导致其分解和死亡。
