Assay to Access Anthelmintic Activity of Small Molecule Drugs Using Caenohabidtis elegans as a Model

Viviane Sant'Anna; Wanderley de Souza; Rossiane C Vommaro

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.2113

Assay to Access Anthelmintic Activity of Small Molecule Drugs Using Caenohabidtis elegans as a Model

Bio Protoc. 2017 Jan 20;7(2):e2113. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2113.

Authors

Viviane Sant'Anna¹, Wanderley de Souza², Rossiane C Vommaro²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Biologia de Helmintos Otto Wucherer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Cidade Universitária, Bloco G, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
² Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular Herta Meyer, Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Cidade Universitária, Bloco G, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Abstract

This protocol proposes to use the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model to screen and study the anthelmintic activity of natural and synthetic compounds and to observe their effects on the morphology and the ultrastructure of the helminths. Furthermore, C. elegans can be used to investigate the anthelmintic activity in embryonated eggs, larval stages and in the adults' survival. As most current anthelmintics are not effective against all nematode life stages, this protocol can contribute to the identification of new alternatives to helminthic infections (Sant' Anna et al., 2016 ).

Keywords: Anthelmintic drugs; C. elegans; Chemotherapy; Nematodes.