Parasitological, pathological and immunological effects of Nigella sativa oil in experimentally Toxocara canis infected mice

摘要

Nigella sativa (NS) is a natural plant seed which is used as traditional medicine for treatment of many diseases in the Middle East countries. This study aimed to evaluate commercially prepared NS oil (NSO) in treatment of experimental murine toxocariasis by parasitological, histopathological and immunological parameters compared to albendazole (ALZ). BALB/c mice (n=50) were divided into 5 groups (10 mice, each group). They are divided according to the following groups: group I (normal control mice, NC), group II (infected untreated control mice, IU), group III (infected mice and treated with ALZ), group IV (infected mice treated with NSO) and group V (infected mice treated with ALZ+NSO), all the infected mice were given orally 500 embryonated eggs of Toxocara (T.) canis. In comparison with the mean total number of T. canis larvae of IU mice (group II), NSO (group IV) achieved a significant reduction in total T. canis larvae (62.2%, P<0.001), ALZ (group III) revealed 66% reduction (P<0.001), while mice treated by ALZ+NSO showed the highest larval reduction percentage with 83.7 (P<0.001). NSO (group IV) reduced the pathological lesions and inflammation caused by T. canis infection, whereas mice treated with ALZ+NSO (group V) showed nearly normal histological picture. All the treated mice groups, including that treated with NSO, showed enhancement of immune response demonstrated by increasing specific anti-Toxocara IgG, and IgG1 levels, in addition to increment of IL-4 and IFN-γ serum levels. In conclusion, NSO decreased Toxocara larvae numbers and reduced the pathological lesions, beside production of immune response characterized by enhanced both Th1 and Th2 responses, so it is recommended to use NSO in treatment of Toxocara infection.