422184

Silver Nanoparticles and Lactoferrin Ameliorate Immunocompromised Murine Cryptosporidiosis

Article

Last updated: 27 Apr 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Veterinary Pathology & Animal Diseases

Abstract

Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) is an intestinal parasite that infects immunosuppressed and immunocompetent people. Cryptosporidiosis is the second largest cause of diarrhea and mortality in children after rotavirus. Nitazoxanide (NTZ) has limited activity in immunocompromised individuals thus, it is increasingly necessary for evaluating new potential drugs against Cryptosporidium in immunosuppressed patients. The current research aimed to investigate the efficiency of Lactoferrin (LF) and Silver Nanoparticles (AgNps), separately, against C. Parvum infection in immunosuppressed mice in comparison with nitazoxanide and to study the effect of their combination on parasitological and histopathological changes. Oocyst output showed that shedding in mice treated with LF, AgNps, and NTZ combination was lower than NTZ treated one. Histopathological examinations of the infected mice treated by NTZ, LF, and AgNps in the intestine showed a regular villous pattern with no evidence of inflammatory changes. The section in the lung tissue showed no apparent pathological changes. Also, the toxicity in mice treated with LF, AgNps, and NTZ combination was lower than NTZ treated one. The combined treatment of NTZ, LF, and AgNps resulted in the highest decrease in Cryptosporidium oocyst number compared to the other treatments tested. Lactoferrin is used as an adjuvant alongside other similar medications to treat cryptosporidiosis.

DOI

10.21608/ejvs.2025.355323.2614

Keywords

cryptosporidiosis, Nitazoxanide, Lactoferrin, silver nanoparticles, and immunosuppressed

Authors

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Darwish

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez University, Suez, 43221, Egypt

Email

ahmed.darwish@sci.suezuni.edu.eg

City

Suez

Orcid

-

First Name

Esraa

Last Name

Mekky

MiddleName

Ahmed

Affiliation

Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez University, Suez, Egypt

Email

esraa.mekky.96@gmail.com

City

Suez

Orcid

-

First Name

Ibrahim

Last Name

Shalash

MiddleName

Rabeea

Affiliation

Theodor Belharz Research Institute

Email

ibrahimshalash@yahoo.com

City

Cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Nahla

Last Name

Shoukry

MiddleName

Mahmoud

Affiliation

Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez University, Suez, Egypt

Email

nahla.m.shoukry@gmail.com

City

Suez

Orcid

-

Volume

56

Article Issue

13

Related Issue

53224

Issue Date

2025-12-01

Receive Date

2025-01-25

Publish Date

2025-12-01

Page Start

67

Page End

77

Print ISSN

1110-0222

Online ISSN

2357-089X

Link

https://ejvs.journals.ekb.eg/article_422184.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=422184

Order

422,184

Type

Original Article

Type Code

140

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Veterinary Sciences

Publication Link

https://ejvs.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Silver Nanoparticles and Lactoferrin Ameliorate Immunocompromised Murine Cryptosporidiosis

Details

Type

Article

Created At

27 Apr 2025