[Dipetalonema dessetae in Proechimys oris. II. Evaluation of the model for pharmacologic investigations of antifilarial chemotherapy (author's transl)].

Dipetalonema dessetae in Proechimys oris is a new model of rodent feafilariasis with several interesting features with respect to its utilisation in antifilarial pharmacology. 1. In the first part of these studies, it has been shown that the final host of the filaria, a rodent, was easy to breed. A prolific mosquito Aedes aegypti was an effective vector, and with the selected mode of infection i.e. 200 infesting larvae subcutaneously injected, 80% of the rodents were infected. 2. From 90 to 150 days p.i., the microfilaria count increased and reach a plateau which was maintained during 60 days. This plateau has enabled the evaluation of microfilaricidal activity. A drug exhibited a significative (0,10) microfilaricidal activity in two animals if the microfilaremia were reduced to 87% and 83,6% of pretreatment values, two or six weeks after treatment. 3. Identically, a compound would present a significative (0,12) macrofilaricidal effect if not a single male and not more than 1,6 female filaria were found at the autopsy of both animals six weeks after treatment. Activity on immature worms (3rd and 4th instar larvae, young adults) was qualitatively evaluated by the presence or absence of filaria at the autopsy of rodents which have been treated at various dates depending of the stages. 4. The sensitivity of this model was evaluated with several known antifilarial drugs, some of them unused by human patients. Diethylcarbamazine, levamisole, suramin, mebendazole and flubendazole killed adults, microfilariae and infesting larvae. Mel W was mainly macrofilaricidal and trichlorfon active on mf. Among all laboratory filariae, D. dessetae in P. oris is one of the most sensitive rodent models and, as such, would serve for the primary screening of new chemical compounds and for the pharmacological studies of antifilarial drugs.