Effects of Dodonaea viscosa Ethanolic Extract on Experimental Schistosomiasis in Mice

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences and Arts-Khulais, University of Jeddah, Jeddah P.O. Box 355, Code 21921, Saudi Arabia

2 2-Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt; 3-Department of Biology, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Helminthic infections were among the most common infections in human beings, affected a large proportion of the world’s population. In developing countries, they posed a large threat to public health and contributed to the prevalence of anaemia, malnutrition, eosinophilia, and pneumonia. The emergence of resistance to anthelmintic drugs, which is now a worldwide phenomenon and the increased awareness of consumers about drug residues that potentially enter the food chain have stimulated investigation into alternatives to commercially available anthelmintic, such as medicinal plants.   Dodonaea viscosa is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate. The present study will be conducted to evaluate the antiparasitic effects of the aerial plant part (leaves) extracts of Dodonaea viscosa against Schistosoma mansoni infected mice.  Mice infected with S. mansoni were orally treated with plant extract for 14 consecutive days. After the last dose, all animals were sacrificed to evaluate the efficacy of plant extract in the treatment of the infection through Parasitological and histological studies as well as Biochemical Assays. The results of the present study indicated that D. viscosa reduces the number of eggs in hepatic tissues of experimentally infected mice besides attenuates the increments of ALT and AST. Also, histopathological investigation of hepatic tissue indicated a reduction in the granuloma size.

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