Evaluation of the in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects of Artemisia herba-alba against the growth of piroplasm parasites

Rasha Eltaysh; Mohamed Abdo Rizk; Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed; Khaled Abouelnasr; Abdelnaser Ahmed Abdallah; Ikuo Igarashi

doi:10.5455/javar.2022.i592

Evaluation of the in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects of Artemisia herba-alba against the growth of piroplasm parasites

J Adv Vet Anim Res. 2022 Jun 26;9(2):267-274. doi: 10.5455/javar.2022.i592. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Rasha Eltaysh¹, Mohamed Abdo Rizk^{1

2}, Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed^{1

3}, Khaled Abouelnasr⁴, Abdelnaser Ahmed Abdallah⁵, Ikuo Igarashi¹

Affiliations

¹ National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan.
² Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
³ Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry of Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Anesthesiology and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.
⁵ Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

Abstract

Objective: The effect of Artemisia herba-alba methanolic extract monotherapy and combination therapies on the in vitro growth of several Babesia and Theileria parasites in vitro and mice was investigated in this study.

Materials and methods: Fluorescence assay using SYBR Green I stain was used to evaluate the antibabesial efficacy inhibitory of A. herba-alba either in vitro or in vivo. Hematological parameters in the treated mice were analyzed using a Celltac MEK-6450 computerized hematology analyzer.

Results: Artemisia herba-alba reduced the growth of Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina, Babesia divergens, Theileria equi, and Babesia caballi in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. The in vitro inhibitory impact of A. herba-alba on B. divergens and B. caballi cultures was amplified when combined with either diminazene aceturate (DA). In B. microti-infected mice, a combination therapy consisting of A. herba-alba and a low DA dose inhibited B. microti growth significantly (p < 0.05) better than treatment with 25 mg kg^-1 DA.

Conclusions: These data show that A. herba-alba, when paired with a modest DA dose, could be a promising medicinal plant for babesiosis treatment.

Keywords: Artemisia herbaalba; Babesia; Theileria; combination therapy; in vitro; in vivo.