El-Hawary S S, Taha K F, Kirillos F N, Dahab A A, El-Mahis A A, El-Sayed S H
Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Applied Research Center of Medicinal Plants, National Organization of Drug Control and Research, Cairo, Egypt.
Helminthologia. 2018 Jan 27;55(1):21-32. doi: 10.1515/helm-2017-0055. eCollection 2018 Mar.
Schistosomiasis remains to be the most common fibrotic disease resulting from inflammation and deposition of scar tissue around trapped parasitic eggs in the liver. Though chemotherapy eradicates matured worms efficiently and prevents the accumulation of eggs, fewer effective drugs are directed to reverse the present hepatic fibrosis. Therefore, treatment targeting hepatic fibrosis associated with schistosomiasis remains a challenging proposition. The present study was designed to investigate the potential complementary schistosomicidal and hepatoprotective activities of the methanol extract of L. () with or without praziquantel (PZQ) and compare results with silymarin (Milk thistle), a known hepatoprotective and antifibrotic agent, on induced liver fibrosis by experimental () infection. Total polyphenols in the extract were determined using colorimetric assay. L. caused a partial decrease in worm burden; a statistically significant reduction in hepatic and intestinal tissue egg load, what was associated histopathologically with decreasing in both the number and diameter of granulomas, as well as restoring serum aminotransferases (AST & ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and improving liver albumin synthesis. The best results were obtained in the group of mice treated with L. and PZQ together. Quantitative estimation of total polyphenols content using colorimetric assay showed that L. leaves contain higher concentration of polyphenolic compounds than fruits. It was concluded that L. has a promising hepatoprotective and antifibrotic properties and could be introduced as a safe and effective therapeutic tool with PZQ in the treatment of schistosomal liver fibrosis. Nevertheless further studies on the mechanism of action of L. in chronic liver diseases may shed light on developing therapeutic methods in clinical practice.
血吸虫病仍然是最常见的纤维化疾病，它是由肝脏中被困寄生虫卵周围的炎症和瘢痕组织沉积引起的。尽管化疗能有效根除成熟的蠕虫并防止虫卵积累，但针对逆转当前肝纤维化的有效药物较少。因此，针对血吸虫病相关肝纤维化的治疗仍然是一个具有挑战性的命题。本研究旨在调查L. ()甲醇提取物在有或没有吡喹酮 (PZQ) 的情况下潜在的杀血吸虫和肝保护活性，并将结果与水飞蓟宾（水飞蓟）进行比较，水飞蓟宾是一种已知的肝保护和抗纤维化药物，用于实验性()感染诱导的肝纤维化。使用比色法测定提取物中的总多酚。L. 导致虫负荷部分降低；肝脏和肠道组织虫卵负荷在统计学上显著降低，这在组织病理学上与肉芽肿数量和直径的减少相关，同时还能恢复血清氨基转移酶（AST和ALT）、碱性磷酸酶（ALP）并改善肝脏白蛋白合成。在同时用L. 和PZQ治疗的小鼠组中获得了最佳结果。使用比色法对总多酚含量进行定量估计表明，L. 的叶子中多酚类化合物的浓度高于果实。得出的结论是，L. 具有有前景的肝保护和抗纤维化特性，可以作为一种安全有效的治疗工具与PZQ一起用于治疗血吸虫性肝纤维化。然而，对L. 在慢性肝病中的作用机制进行进一步研究可能会为临床实践中开发治疗方法提供线索。
