Beta
112362

Spironolactone: A promising anti-schistosomal drug as revealed by scanning electron microscopy of adult worms

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Background: Schistosomiasis mansoni is still a widespread parasitic infection especially among poor developing countries. Depending on praziquantel (PZQ) as a single medication for treatment and control, causes the emergence of isolates resistant to this drug. Continuous efforts are needed for the introduction of new effective therapies.  Some diuretics including spironolactone, showed promising anti-parasitic effects. Objectives: In this study, spironolactone, a potassium-sparing diuretic, was evaluated regarding its in vitro lethal effect on Schistosomamansoni (S. mansoni) adult worms using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Material and Methods: A total of 144 worms; 72 males and 72 females were exposed to a concentration of 10 μg/ml of spironolactone for 5 days at 37±0.5°C in 5% CO2 incubator. A pure medium and a medium containing 0.5% of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (vehicle) were used as negative controls, while PZQ at 10 μg/ml was used as a reference drug. The compound was then retested using the same technique by successive descending dilutions of the solution. Mortality rate of 50% (lethal concentration) (LC50) and 100% (lethal concentration) (LC100) were calculated after 72 h and 5 days exposure. Results: Our results highlighted the potent anti-schistosome effect of spironolactone as it showed 100% mortality of worms at 6.4 μg/ml and 5 μg/ml after 72 h and 5 days exposure, respectively. While 50% mortality of worms was obtained at 4.5 μg/ml and 3 μg/ml after 72 h and 5 days exposure, respectively. Moreover, SEM of male and female S. mansoni worms exposed to spironolactone in vitro, showed disintegration and sloughing of the tubercles on the dorsal surface of males, erosion of the tegument with exposure and appearance of the sub-tegumental tissue in males and females. Conclusion: Being a safe, oral, inexpensive, and well tolerated drug, spironolactone is capable of being a potent future anti-schistosome drug.

DOI

10.21608/puj.2020.33168.1076

Keywords

praziquantel, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Schistosomiasis mansoni, Spironolactone

Authors

First Name

Heba

Last Name

Aminou

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Medical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Email

hebaaminou74@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

orcid.org/0000-0001-7566-3499

First Name

Abeer

Last Name

Abdel Rahman

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Medical Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Email

abeer1124@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

13

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

17195

Issue Date

2020-08-01

Receive Date

2020-06-18

Publish Date

2020-08-01

Page Start

121

Page End

125

Print ISSN

1687-7942

Online ISSN

2090-2646

Link

https://puj.journals.ekb.eg/article_112362.html

Detail API

https://puj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=112362

Order

8

Type

Original Article

Type Code

426

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Parasitologists United Journal

Publication Link

https://puj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Spironolactone: A promising anti-schistosomal drug as revealed by scanning electron microscopy of adult worms

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023