Natural Products Are a Promising Source for Anthelmintic Drug Discovery

Parasitic nematodes infect almost all forms of life. In the human context, parasites are one of the major causative factors for physical and intellectual growth retardation in the developing world. In the agricultural setting, parasites have a great economic impact through a reduction in livestock performance or control cost. The main method of controlling these devastating conditions is the use of anthelmintic drugs. Unfortunately, there are only a few anthelmintic drug classes available in the market and significant resistance has developed in most of the parasitic species of livestock. Therefore, development of new anthelmintics with different modes of action is critical for sustainable parasitic control in the future. The drug development pipeline is broadly limited to two types of molecules, namely synthetic compounds and natural plant products. Compared to synthetic compounds, natural products are highly diverse, and many have historically proven valuable in folk medicine to treat various gastrointestinal ailments. This review focus on the use of traditional knowledge-based plant extracts in the development of new therapeutic leads, the approaches used as screening techniques, and common bottlenecks and opportunities in plant-based anthelmintic drug discovery.

Solvatomorphism of Moxidectin

The solvatomorphism of the anthelmintic drug moxidectin is investigated, and a new solvatomorph with nitromethane is reported. Moreover, the hitherto unknown crystal structures of the solvatomorphs with ethanol and 2-propanol are reported and discussed. The thermal characterization of these solvatomorphs through variable-temperature powder X-ray diffraction analysis (VT-PXRD) is also described, providing new insights into the crystallochemistry of this active pharmaceutical ingredient.

ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION FOR THE APPLICATION OF ANTHELMINTHICS GASTROINTESTINAL STRONGYLATOSIS IN HORSES

In recent years, horse breeding has been gradually reviving. Pedigree stud farms for breeding different horse breeds are developing, and the role of work horses in farms and the private sector has significantly increased. Nevertheless, helminthiases are a serious problem in the development of horse breeding. To determine the infection of horses with helminths, 53 animals were subjected to scatological research: 11 animals at the age from 1 to 2.5 years, 9 animals from 3 to 5 years, 20 animals from 6 to 10 years, and 13 animals from 11 years to 21 years. One day of inactivity of horses infected with gastrointestinal strongylates will cost the farm 72,000 Rubles. Considering that the animals must be on the farm for another 10 days after deworming until the animals are completely free of the invasion, the possible damage to the farm from inactivity of work horses increases to 720,000 Rubles. Economic efficiency per 1 Ruble of costs for deworming horses with an anthelmintic drug containing albendazole amounted to 6.01 Rubles, that containing eprinomectin – 3.9 Rubles, and that containing praziquantel + ivermectin – 5.8 Rubles.

Combination of immunostimulants with moxidectin in the treatment of animals experimentally infected with Haemonchus contortus

Considering the importance of Haemonchus contortus infection in herds along with parasitic resistance, the goal of this study was to evaluate the influence of the administration of adjuvants alone or in combination with anthelmintics for the treatment of H. contortus, in experimentally infected sheep. Thirty sheep of the Texel breed of both genders, raised in a herd located in the subtropical region of Brazil, were used in this experiment. Experimental infection with H. contortus was performed in sheep, and the infected sheep were then separated into groups for the administration of antiparasitic and immunostimulant drugs. The results obtained from the excretion of eggs per gram of feces and the count of parasites during necropsy affirm that the use of adjuvants in combination with anthelmintics is associated with higher efficacy of treatment, lower rate of reinfection, and retardation in the development of anthelmintic drug resistance by H. contortus. Based on these results, we can conclude that the combination of anthelmintics and immunostimulants may favor potential anthelmintic treatments for H. contortus.