Anti-ToxoplasmaIn Vitro and In Vivo Activity of Pyrus boissieriana Arbutin-Rich Fraction

• Published in: Acta parasitologica Vol. 69; no. 1; pp. 567 - 573
• Main Authors: Bahreini, Mohammad Saleh, Pourmohammadi, Seyyed Farzad, Gholami, Meysam, Habibollahi, Mojtaba, Pasdaran, Ardalan, Hamedi, Azadeh, Asgari, Qasem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.03.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Biocompatibility; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cytotoxicity; Ecology; Flow cytometry; Herbal medicine; In vitro methods and tests; In vivo methods and tests; Infectious diseases; Lethality; Macrophages; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Original Paper; Parasitology; Pyrus boissieriana; Survival; Tachyzoites; Toxicity testing; Toxoplasmosis; Arbutin
• ISSN: 1230-2821; 1896-1851
• DOI: 10.1007/s11686-023-00759-x

Purpose Pyrus boissieriana is a rich source of arbutin and has been used in herbal medicine to treat infectious diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the arbutin-rich fraction of Pyrus boissieriana aerial parts on Toxoplasma gondii In Vitro and In Vivo . Methods An arbutin-rich fraction of P. boissieriana was prepared beforehand. Flow cytometry was used to evaluate the effect of different concentrations (1–512 µg/ml) of the P. boissieriana arbutin-rich fraction on Toxoplasma tachyzoites (RH strain). The cytotoxicity of the concentrations on the macrophage J774 cell line was also investigated by MTT assay. For In Vivo investigation, 4–6-week-old female mice infected with the RH strain of T. gondii were treated with different doses (16, 32, 64, 256, and 512 mg/kg) of the fraction using gavage. Results The highest and lowest lethality of the tachyzoites were 89.6% and 25.9% related to the concentrations of 512 µg/ml and 1 µg/ml, respectively, with an IC 50 value of 18.1 µg/ml ± 0.37. The cytotoxicity test showed an IC 50 value of 984.3 µg/ml ± 0.76 after 48 h incubation. The mean survival of mice at the lowest treated dose (16 mg/kg) was 6.6 days, and it was 15 days at the highest dose (512 mg/kg). The concentrations of 512, 256, 128, and 64 mg/kg of the fraction compared to the negative control (6.2 days mean survival) significantly increased the survival time of mice ( P  < 0.001, P  = 0.009, P  = 0.018, and P  = 0.021, respectively). Conclusion The results showed that the arbutin-rich fraction of P. boissieriana is effective against T. gondii In Vitro and In Vivo and may be a reliable alternative to conventional treatment for toxoplasmosis, although further studies are necessary.