Abstract
This study was carried out to evaluate the anti-parasitic effect of ursolic acid against Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) that induces toxoplasmosis, particularly in humans. The anti-parasitic effects of ursolic acid against T. gondii-infected cells and T. gondii were evaluated through different specific assays, including immunofluorescence staining and animal testing. Ursolic acid effectively inhibited the proliferation of T. gondii when compared with sulfadiazine, and consistently induced anti-T. gondii activity/effect. In particular, the formation of parasitophorous vacuole membrane (PVM) in host cells was markedly decreased after treating ursolic acid, which was effectively suppressed. Moreover, the survival rate of T. gondii was strongly inhibited in T. gondii group treated with ursolic acid, and then 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) against T. gondii was measured as 94.62 μg/mL. The T. gondii-infected mice treated with ursolic acid indicated the same survival rates and activity as the normal group. These results demonstrate that ursolic acid causes anti-T. gondii action and effect by strongly blocking the proliferation of T. gondii through the direct and the selective T. gondii-inhibitory ability as well as increases the survival of T. gondii-infected mice. This study shows that ursolic acid has the potential to be used as a promising anti-T. gondii candidate substance for developing effective anti-parasitic drugs.
Highlights
Toxoplasmosis is caused in all age groups, including young children or adults globally, which is one of parasitic diseases as zoonosis infected through Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii)
T. gondi-infected cells treated with ursolic acid (UA) (100 μg/mL) showed a significant decrease of T. gondii including T. gondii fragmentation as well as morphological changes such as cell shrinkage and cell fragmentation when compared with the untreated T. gondii-infected cells (Data not shown), which suggests that UA has anti-parasitic activity and the inhibitory effect against T. gondi in infected cells (Table 2)
These results demonstrate that UA strongly induced anti-proliferation activity of T. gondii in the infected host cells by effectively blocking T. gondii as well as the direct inhibitory action against T. gondii
Summary
Toxoplasmosis is caused in all age groups, including young children or adults globally, which is one of parasitic diseases as zoonosis infected through Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Several drugs were developed to inhibit T. gondii, and they are being used to treat toxoplasmosis’ patients in the clinic Their side effects are still clear in the clinic, and it is being exposed to drug-resistance gradually [3,4,5]. In these aspects, pyrimethamine used for treating toxoplasmosis blocks the synthesis of tetrahydrofolic acid from dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) by effectively inhibiting the dihydrofolate reductase in T. gondii, which inhibits consistently synthesis of the DNA and/or RNA in the proliferation of protozoa species, including malaria
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