The Establishment And Preliminary Evaluation Of Methods For Praziquantel Treatment Efficacy In Schistosome Infected Mice

Objective Construction of BALB/c mice animal models of praziquantel treatment ofSchistosoma japonicum infection, preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of praziquanteltreatment of schistosomiasis assessment, and lay the foundation for further clinicalstudies of praziquantel therapy assessment.Methods The pre-test: mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum model experiment(150BALB/c mice) and praziquantel treatment of mice infected with Schistosomajaponicum model experiment (90BALB/c mice), identified the efficacy of assessmentand evaluation methods of mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum praziquanteltreatment experimental program. In this experiment102BALB/c mice at6~8weeks wererandomly divided into three groups named as infection group (n=37), treatment group(n=37) and control group (n=28). The cercariae (25±2) of S.japonicum were injectedinto the mice in treatment group and infection group through the abdominal skin. At6weeks post-infection, the mice in treatment group were administered orally withpranziquantel [150mg/(kg d)] for continous3days.2weeks later the second treatmentwith pranziquantel [300mg/(kg d)] were gave for continous3days. During theexperiment, the survival, liver and spleen index and weight of mice were monitored. Thechanges of soluble egg antigen (SEA)-specific IgG and IgM in sera of mice weredetected by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting (WB)assay, while the levels of SEA specific cytokine gamma interferon (IFN-γ) andinterleukin-4(IL-4) in sera of mice were detected by ELISA. In additional, the counts ofSEA-specific IFN-γ and IL-4secreting cell in mouse spleen lymphocytes were detectedby enzyme-linked immune-spot assay (ELISPOT). Meanwhile the treatedSchistosomiasis patients were monitored by above method.Results16-9weeks after Schistosome infected BALB/c mice belonged to the period ofacute infection,9to12weeks belonged to the transitional period,12weeks into thecourse of chronic infection.2The liver and spleen shape and weight of mice infectedwith Schistosoma would be improved after treatment, and serum SEA-specific IgG andIgM, IFN-γ and IL-4would be significantly decreased.180kD SEA-specific IgG in theserum began to decrease after2weeks treatment,43kD,48kD,50kD specific IgG began to decrease after6weeks treatment.3The counts of specific secreted IFN-γ and IL-4lymphocytes showed a significant downward trend in treated mice.Conclusion1It has important therapeutic value to detect the changes of the liver andspleen morphology, body weight and serum SEA-specific IgG and IgM, IFN-γ and IL-4after praziquantel treatment of mice infected with Schistosoma.2The SEA antigens ofSchistosoma japonicum containing43kD,48kD,50kD and180kD have a high value ofefficacy assessment.3The methods of efficacy assessment in mouse models also havesome significance in the praziquantel treatment of people infected with Schistosoma.