Antiparasitic Activity of Plants Extract against Gastrointestinal Nematodes and Rhipicephalus microplus

Abstract

Parasites are the significant factors influencing the health and production status of animals all over the globe. The high cost of currently available drugs and the emergence of parasitic-resistant strains has highlighted the importance of alternate control strategies. One of the effective ways to combat parasitism is to develop plant-based medicines. The current study aimed to develop a formulation based on the leaves of three traditional plants, Calotropis procera, Syzygium cumini, and Ziziphus jujube. Crude methanolic extract of leaves was evaluated for its antiparasitic activity utilizing egg hatch test (against nematode eggs), adult motility assay (against adult nematodes), and modified larval immersion test (against ticks). Meanwhile, sheep acquiring natural infections of Haemonchus contortus were used to determine in vivo anthelmintic activity. Results from the egg hatch test indicated that 41.05% of the extract inhibited 50% hatching of eggs (LC50): much higher than oxfendazole (4.11%; control group). More interestingly, it was observed that the effects of plant extract on adult worms increased with time. LC50 of plant extract reduced from 176.03 to 4.74% after 12 hours of treatment of adult nematodes. A similar response was observed against ticks and reduced the exact dose required to induce LC50 after 24 hours of treatment (3641.11%) to 1576.55% after six days of treatment. On the other hand, the moderate activity of the extract was indicated in sheep acquiring natural infections of H. contortus. The results show that plants can induce antiparasitic activity; however, further research into plants' bioactive molecules is required to get a maximum reduction of parasites.