Yeo Seon-Ju, Jin ChunMei, Kim SungYeon, Park Hyun
Zoonosis Research Center, Department of Infection Biology, School of Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan 54538, Korea.
Key Laboratory of Natural Resources of the Changbai Mountain and Functional Molecules, Affiliated Ministry of Education, Yanbian University College of Pharmacy, Yanji 133002, PR China.
Korean J Parasitol. 2016 Apr;54(2):155-61. doi: 10.3347/kjp.2016.54.2.155. Epub 2016 Apr 30.
Toxoplasma gondii is an important opportunistic pathogen that causes toxoplasmosis, which has very few therapeutic treatment options. The most effective therapy is a combination of pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine; however, their utility is limited because of drug toxicity and serious side effects. For these reasons, new drugs with lower toxicity are urgently needed. In this study, the compound, (Z)-1-[(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)methyleneamino]-imidazolidine-2,4-dione (nitrofurantoin), showed anti-T. gondii effects in vitro and in vivo. In HeLa cells, the selectivity of nitrofurantoin was 2.3, which was greater than that of pyrimethamine (0.9). In T. gondii-infected female ICR mice, the inhibition rate of T. gondii growth in the peritoneal cavity was 44.7% compared to the negative control group after 4-day treatment with 100 mg/kg of nitrofurantoin. In addition, hematology indicators showed that T. gondii infection-induced serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, biochemical parameters involved in liver injury, were reduced by nitrofurantoin significantly. Moreover, nitrofurantoin exerted significant effects on the index of antioxidant status, i.e., malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH). The nitrofurantoin-treated group inhibited the T. gondii-induced MDA levels while alleviating the decrease in GSH levels. Thus, nitrofurantoin is a potential anti-T. gondii candidate for clinical application.
刚地弓形虫是一种重要的机会性致病原,可引起弓形虫病,而针对该病的治疗选择非常有限。最有效的治疗方法是乙胺嘧啶和磺胺嘧啶联合使用;然而,由于药物毒性和严重的副作用,它们的效用受到限制。由于这些原因,迫切需要毒性更低的新药。在本研究中,化合物(Z)-1-[(5-硝基呋喃-2-基)亚甲基氨基]-咪唑烷-2,4-二酮(呋喃妥因)在体外和体内均显示出抗刚地弓形虫的作用。在HeLa细胞中,呋喃妥因的选择性为2.3,高于乙胺嘧啶(0.9)。在用100mg/kg呋喃妥因治疗4天后,与阴性对照组相比,在感染刚地弓形虫的雌性ICR小鼠中,腹腔内刚地弓形虫生长的抑制率为44.7%。此外,血液学指标显示,呋喃妥因显著降低了刚地弓形虫感染诱导的血清丙氨酸氨基转移酶(ALT)和天冬氨酸氨基转移酶(AST)水平,这两种生化参数与肝损伤有关。此外,呋喃妥因对抗氧化状态指标,即丙二醛(MDA)和谷胱甘肽(GSH)有显著影响。呋喃妥因治疗组抑制了刚地弓形虫诱导的MDA水平,同时减轻了GSH水平的降低。因此,呋喃妥因是一种有临床应用潜力的抗刚地弓形虫候选药物。