Cryptosporidium parvum is a significant cause of watery diarrhoea in humans and other animals worldwide. Although hundreds of novel drugs have been evaluated, no effective specific chemotherapeutic intervention for C. parvum has been reported. There has been much recent interest in evaluating plant-derived products in the fight against gastrointestinal parasites, including C. parvum. This study aimed to identify extracts from 13 different plant species that provide evidence for inhibiting the growth of C. parvum in vitro. Efficacy against C. parvum was detected and quantified using quantitative PCR and immunofluorescence assays. All plant extracts tested against C. parvum showed varying inhibition activities in vitro, and none of them produced a cytotoxic effect on HCT-8 cells at concentrations up to 500 µg/mL. Four plant species with the strongest evidence of activity against C. parvum were Curcuma longa, Piper nigrum, Embelia ribes, and Nigella sativa, all with dose-dependent efficacy. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time that these plant extracts have proven to be experimentally efficacious against C. parvum. These results support further exploration of these plants and their compounds as possible treatments for Cryptosporidium infections.
Keywords: Ayurveda; cryptosporidiosis; cytotoxicity; drug screening; plant medicine.