Abstract
Besnoitia besnoiti is the causative agent of bovine besnoitiosis. B. besnoiti infections lead to reduced fertility and productivity in cattle causing high economic losses, not only in Europe, but also in Asia and Africa. Mild to severe clinical signs, such as anasarca, oedema, orchitis, hyperkeratosis, and characteristic skin and mucosal cysts, are due to B. besnoiti tachyzoite and bradyzoite replication in intermediate host tissues. So far, there are no commercially available effective drugs against this parasite. Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound from Curcuma longa rhizome is well-known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and also anti-protozoan effects. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of curcumin on viability, motility, invasive capacity, and proliferation of B. besnoiti tachyzoites replicating in primary bovine umbilical vein endothelial cells (BUVEC) in vitro. Functional inhibition assays revealed that curcumin treatments reduce tachyzoite viability and induce lethal effects in up to 57% of tachyzoites (IC50 in 5.93 μM). Referring to general motility, significant dose-dependent effects of curcumin treatments were observed. Interestingly, curcumin treatments only dampened helical gliding and twirling activities whilst longitudinal gliding motility was not significantly affected. In addition, curcumin pretreatments of tachyzoites resulted in a dose-dependent reduction of host cell invasion as detected by infections rates at 1 day p. i. These findings demonstrate feeding cattle with Curcuma longa rhizomes may represent a new strategy for besnoitiosis treatment.
Highlights
Besnoitia besnoiti is an intracellular obligate parasite infecting cattle phylogenetically closely related to Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum [1, 2].Bovine besnoitiosis, which is an emergent disease in Europe but is vastly endemic in Asia and Africa, causes considerable economic losses in cattle industry [1]
Curcumin treatments resulted in dose-dependent lethal effects on B. besnoiti tachyzoites probit regression was significant at p = 0.0001 Zc = 9.31; IC50, IC90, and IC99 were 5.93, 112.59, and 1240.35 μM, respectively (Table 1)
Bovine besnoitiosis is spreading in Europe [34, 35], and in other continents, such as Africa and Asia
Summary
Bovine besnoitiosis, which is an emergent disease in Europe but is vastly endemic in Asia and Africa, causes considerable economic losses in cattle industry [1]. Even though a high percentage of B. besnoiti-infected animals are commonly asymptomatic, some of them show mild to severe disease. During the acute phase of bovine besnoitiosis, fast replication of tachyzoites. Besnoiti Tachyzoites in host endothelial cells of different organs and vessels causes severe symptoms such as fever, nose and eye discharge, photophobia and anasarca, accepting a variable clinical prevalence of between 1 and 10% in endemic herds. During the chronic phase of infection, slow replicating bradyzoites induce the formation of large-sized thick-walled cysts mainly found in subcutaneous tissues and mucous membranes [1]. Diagnosis of cattle besnoitiosis is mainly based on the occurrence of typical cystic lesions on scleral conjunctiva or dermis and on serological tools (i.e., ELISA and western blot) [2, 5]
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