Angiostrongyliasis, also known as eosinophils
meningitis, is caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis parasites in the human central nervous system. Currently, the
drug of choice for treatment of
angiostrongyliasis is
albendazole, but dead worm lysis causes severe inflammatory response, which leads to central nervous system damage.
Tribendimidine, a broad-spectrum anti-helmintic
drug developed in China, is a derivative of
amidantel. This study was designed to test the efficacy of
tribendimidine against A. cantonensis in mice. We treated 65 infected female BALB/c mice with
tribendimidine or
albendazole by oral route. We observed that
tribendimidine at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day was effective, and the worm reduction rates were 54.8 %,77.4 %, and 100 % compared with the control group. In addition, the
therapeutic effect of early
tribendimidine treatment (7 days post-
infection [PI]) was better than the late treatment (14 days PI), in comparison with the
albendazole group (20 mg/kg/day). The index of therapeutic efficacy included
body weight, neurological function, survival time, worm reduction,
mRNA levels of proinflammatory
cytokines in brain tissue, histopathological examination and electron microscopy scanning. The results showed that
tribendimidine could kill the larvae of A. cantonensis in the mice model, and the worm's body wall was observed to be damaged.
After treatment with
tribendimidine, the survival conditions such as
body weight and neurological function were improved, and
brain inflammation was reduced in infected mice. This study showed a strong efficacy of
tribendimidine against A. cantonensis and provided suitable alternative treatments to further explore its potential use in treatment of human
angiostrongyliasis.