Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Infect Disord Drug Targets. 2021;21(1):151-155. doi: 10.2174/1871526520666200511004932.
CDATA[Background: Toxoplasmosis is a disease that results from infection with an obligate intracellular T. gondii parasite, one of the world's most common parasites. Considering the complications of chemical drugs and the need for an appropriate drug combination for treatment of toxoplasmosis and considering the antimicrobial potential of chitosan, as a natural source, this study was aimed to evaluate in vitro activity of commercial chitosan (CC) on T. gondii.
In this experimental study, the tachyzoites of T. gondii were collected from the peritoneal exudates from infected Balb/c mice. The tachyzoites were diluted in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution. Chitosan with low molecular weight was commercially purchased. Then, at concentrations of 10, 50, 100, and 200 μg/mL and after 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes, the viability of tachyzoites was determined by using trypan blue 0.1%. Anti-T.gondii activity of CC in all concentrations was significantly higher than pyrimethamine as the control group (P=0.05).
The concentration of 200 μg/mL of CC had the highest effects and killed 30.5, 52, 59, and 81.5% of tachyzoites after 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes. Moreover, IC50 values of CC were 515, 171, 12.5, and <10 μg/mL in comparison with pyrimethamine as 58.82 μg/mL for 30, 60, 120, and 180 min of exposure time.
Our results indicate that chitosan in low molecular weight had potent activity against T. gondii tachyzoites and could be an appropriate candidate for the treatment of at least acute toxoplasmosis, certainly, after complementary in vivo experiments.
[背景：弓形虫病是一种由专性细胞内寄生虫弓形虫感染引起的疾病，是世界上最常见的寄生虫之一。考虑到化学药物的并发症以及治疗弓形虫病需要适当的药物组合，并且考虑到壳聚糖作为天然来源的抗菌潜力，本研究旨在评估商业壳聚糖（CC）对弓形虫的体外活性。
在这项实验研究中，从感染的 Balb/c 小鼠的腹腔渗出液中收集弓形虫速殖子。速殖子用磷酸盐缓冲盐水（PBS）溶液稀释。购买低分子量的壳聚糖。然后，在浓度为 10、50、100 和 200μg/mL 以及 30、60、120 和 180 分钟后，使用 0.1%台盼蓝测定速殖子的活力。所有浓度的 CC 对 T.gondii 的抗弓形虫活性均明显高于作为对照组的嘧啶胺（P=0.05）。
CC 的 200μg/mL 浓度的效果最高，在 30、60、120 和 180 分钟后分别杀死 30.5%、52%、59%和 81.5%的速殖子。此外，CC 的 IC50 值分别为 515、171、12.5 和<10μg/mL，与嘧啶胺的 58.82μg/mL 相比，暴露时间为 30、60、120 和 180 分钟。
我们的结果表明，低分子量壳聚糖对弓形虫速殖子具有强大的活性，可能是至少急性弓形虫病治疗的合适候选药物，当然，在进行体内补充实验后。]
