Sharba Kausar1, Wajihullah Khan1*, Ameer Azam2
1Section of Parasitology, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002 (U.P.), India
2Section of Applied Physics, Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002 (U.P.), India
*Corresponding author
Wajihullah Khan,
Section of Parasitology, Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P.), India.
Phone No.: +91 9045493671
Abstract
Background: Setaria cervi which is a cosmopolitan bovine filariid causing peritonitis and lumbar paralysis in domestic and farm animals by circulating microfilariae in blood. Efficacy of Diethyl Carbamazine (DEC), Nitazoxanide (NTZ) and a combination of Nitazoxanide and Silver nanoparticles (NTZ+AgNP) was observed on the enzyme activities of the microfilariae which may help in blocking the transmission to healthy animals. Methods: Effects of DEC, NTZ and NTZ+AgNP were assessed by motility inhibition assay of microfilariae (mf) at different concentrations ranging from 10-100µg/ml at hourly intervals in vitro. Localization of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (ICDH) was observed in the mf which were incubated for 6 hrs in 100µg/ml of incubationg medium of aforesaid enzymes. SEM pictures were also taken to see apparent changes on the microfilariae. Results: Highest mortality rate of mf was observed in NTZ+AgNPs compared to NTZ whereas, DEC treated microfilariae showed no significant effect. NTZ+AgNPs treated microfilariae showed maximum inhibition of TCA cycle enzymes. The sheath of microfilariae also gets ruptured when treated with NTZ+AgNP. No such alterations were observed on the surface of microfilariae treated with NTZ and DEC alone. Conclusion: Nitrazoxanide which is a broad-spectrum anthelmintic when combined with AgNPs improved its efficacy against S. cervi mf which may be tried in vivo to check transmission of bovine as well as other filarial infections of man and animals in tropical countries.
Key words: Anthelmintics, nanoparticles, TCA cycle enzymes, microfilariae, Setaria cervi
