Cryptosporidiosis is a serious parasitic diarrheal disease linked to the occurrence of colorectal cancer in immunocompromised patients. The FDA-approved drug nitazoxanide (NTZ) achieved a temporary effect, and relapses occur. Annona muricata leaf is widely used in traditional medicine to treat a wide range of disorders, including antiparasitic and anticancer effects. So, this study aimed to investigate Annona muricata leaf antiparasitic and anticancer properties compared to NTZ in Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) acutely and chronically infected immunosuppressed mice. A molecular docking analysis was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of some biologically active compounds that represented the pharmacological properties of Annona muricata leaf-rich extract toward C. parvum lactate dehydrogenase compared to NTZ. For the in vivo study, eighty immunosuppressed albino mice were classified into four groups as follows: group I: infected and treated with A. muricata; group II: infected and treated with nitazoxanide; group III: infected and received no treatment; and group IV: were neither infected nor treated. Furthermore, half of the mice in groups I and II received the drugs on the 10th day post-infection (dpi), and the other half received treatment on the 90th day post-infection. Parasitological, histopathological, and immunohistochemical evaluations were performed. The docking analysis showed that the lowest estimated free energy of binding of annonacin, casuarine, L-epigallocatechin, P-coumaric acid, and ellagic acid toward C. parvum LDH, were −6.11, −6.32, −7.51, −7.81, and −9.64 kcal/mol, respectively, while NTZ was −7.03 kcal/mol. Parasitological examination displayed a significantly high difference in C. parvum oocyst mean counts in groups I and II compared to group III (p-value < 0.001), with group I demonstrating the highest efficacy. The analyses of histopathological and immunohistochemical results revealed that group I showed restoration of the normal villous pattern without evidence of dysplasia or malignancy. A. muricata leaf has proved to be a reliable agent for Cryptosporidium treatment. This paper argues for its promising use as an antiparasitic agent and for the prevention of neoplastic sequels of Cryptosporidium infection.

Background: Cryptosporidiosis is an important worldwide opportunistic infection. It causes severe life-threatening diarrhea in immunocompromised patients and has a carcinogenic predisposition in chronic cases. Until now, there are no available drugs that can control this serious effect on the ileocecal region. Coconut oil (CO) is rich in many saturated fatty acids like lauric acid (LA) which has many uses in the field of traditional medicine, and also showed anticancer activity although its mechanism of action is not well studied. Objective: To assess the efficacy of CO in immunosuppressed mice with chronic cryptosporidiosis. Material and Methods: Forty white Albino mice of CDI strain were immunosuppressed and divided into 4 groups. GI: non-infected (negative control); GII: infected for 60 d, and non-treated (positive control); GIII: infected for 60 d then Nitazoxanide (NTZ) treated; GIV: infected for 60 d then CO treated. Parasitological, histopathological, and immunohistochemical (IHC) studies were conducted at the ileocecal region to estimate the parasite burden, caspase-3 mediator of apoptosis, and CDX2 biomarker of tumorigenesis. Results: Parasitological examination showed marked reduction of parasite load in GIV compared to GII, and GIII. Histopathological examination showed focal villous tip erosions and mild villous core infiltration by mononuclear inflammatory cells in GIII, while GIV showed a mostly preserved villous pattern with mild villous core inflammation. Immunohistochemical examination showed the best results in GIV in which there was significant positive nuclear staining in acini for CDX2 with nearly negative cytoplasmic staining in acini for caspase-3. Conclusion: Coconut oil is a natural product with significant anti-Cryptosporidium effects and a promising ability to decrease the incidence of dysplastic changes in chronic cryptosporidiosis.

Cryptosporidiosis caused by Cryptosporidium sp. is a globally spreading disease. Nowadays, new researches are moving towards an effective treatment without side effects, especially for young and immune-compromised patients. The current study was designed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of the coconut oil extracts as an alternative medicinal plant in Cryptosporidium infected immunocompromised mice. Sixty white albino mice were classified into six groups; Group I: Infected with Cryptosporidium oocysts treated with Nitazoxanide, Group II: Infected with Cryptosporidium oocysts and treated with coconut water extract, Group III: Infected with Cryptosporidium oocysts and treated with coconut Hexan extract, Group IV: Infected with Cryptosporidium oocysts and treated with coconut ethanol extract, Group V: Positive control, Group VI: Negative control. Stool samples were collected and examined; histopathological and immune-histochemical assessment using anti caspase-3 and anti CDX2 monoclonal antibodies were performed. Coconut oil extracts results revealed a significant decrease of oocyst count, correlated with an amelioration of histopathological and confirmed by immunohistochemical changes in ileal tissue. The present study has opened fresh avenues for development of natural therapy like coconut oil extracts, which have a potential therapeutic efficacy against Cryptosporidiosis. That was confirmed by different methodologies, parasitological examination, histopathological examination, and immunohistochemical assays. It paves the way for being a promising anti-parasitic agent for infection eradication. However, further studies are still required to gain more knowledge about different coconut extracts in order to reach the best treatment efficacy.

Background: One of the considerable challenges of schistosomiasis chemotherapy is the inefficacy of praziquantel (PZQ) at the initial phase of the infection. Objective: The aim of this work is to evaluate the possible additive effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) as a cholagogue with PZQ on experimental schistosomiasis mansoni. Material and Methods: Thirty mice were divided into 5 groups, 6 mice each; GI: non-infected; negative control, GII: infected nontreated; positive control, GIII: infected and treated with UDCA, GIV: infected, and treated with PZQ, and GV: infected, and treated with UDCA and PZQ. Parasitological and histopathological examinations were used as efficacy parameters. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between GII and the infected treated groups regarding the reduction of worm burden in the liver and mesenteric vessels, the presence of different developmental stages of S. mansoni ova in the intestinal wall, the mean total count of ova in the tissues of infected mice (P<0.001). At the same time, GV showed the best result by reducing the worm burden by 100%, the least number of immature and mature ova in the intestinal wall, and the highest percentage of reduction of total ova count in the tissues of infected mice (90.09%) and the least mean granuloma diameter and number. Conclusion: UDCA has an auspicious additive effect to PZQ to decrease the worm burden, and the load of ova in both the intestinal wall and other tissues, and to decrease the number and diameter of granulomas due to infection with S. mansoni.

Infection with cryptosporidiosis endangers the lives of many people with immunodeficiency, especially HIV patients. Nitazoxanide is one of the main therapeutic drugs used to treat cryptosporidiosis. However, it is poorly soluble in water, which restricts its usefulness and efficacy in immunocompromised patients. Surfactants have an amphiphilic character which indicates their ability to improve the water solubility of the hydrophobic drugs. Our research concerns the synthesis of new cationic Gemini surfactants that have the ability to improve the solubility of the drug Nanazoxide. So, we synthesized cationic Gemini surfactants. N1,N1,N3,N3-tetramethyl-N1,N3-bis(2-octadecanamidoethyl)propane-1,3-diaminium bromide (CGSPS18) and 2,2‘-(ethane-1,2-diylbis(oxy))bis(N-(2-octadecanamidoethyl)-N,N-dimethyl-2-oxoethane-1-aminium) dichloride (CGSES18) and the detection of their chemical composition by spectroscopic methods, as well as studying the properties of their surfaces and their toxicity. Furthermore, the efficacy of nitazoxanide in infected mice was studied in conjunction with three different doses of surfactants. To assess the effect of nitazoxanide and surfactants, the infection was parasitologically counted before and after treatment, and the intestinal, liver, and lung tissues were also examined histopathologically. In this study, it was found that the combination of the drug nitazoxanide with surfactants, especially the compound (CGSPS18) at a concentration of 25% increased the efficacy and resulted in a percentage reduction of 90.8%. Histopathological examination revealed that the group treated with the drug nitazoxanide in combination with CGSPS18 showed the best results exhibiting an almost normal villous pattern. This study demonstrated an increase in the effectiveness of nitazoxanide when combined with surfactants, and this suggests a promising future for the use of surfactants as an adjunct to enhance the effectiveness of nitazoxanide for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis in immunocompromised patients, particularly HIV patients.

Background: Since current therapies for toxoplasmosis are only effective against tachyzoites in acuteinfections, and the occurrence of drug resistance, researches are directed to use natural products in thetreatment of chronic toxoplasmosis.Objective: To investigate the potential efficacy of metal-organic framework (MOF) loaded coconut oil(CO) and ginger oil (GO) nanoparticles (NPs) in the treatment of chronic murine toxoplasmosis.Material and Methods: Ninety laboratory bred Swiss Albino mice were divided into 8 groups (10 miceeach); GI (negative control), GII (infected control), GIII-GVIII (infected with Me49 strain of T. gondiiand treated with MOFs-NPs, Spiramycin, Spiramycin loaded on MOFs-NPs, CO-MOF-NPs, GO-MOF-NPs,and CO+GO-MOFs-NPs, respectively). Parameters used for evaluation included brain cyst count, tissuepathology, and CD8+ infiltration of the liver.Results: A statistically significant difference was observed in the number of brain cysts between allinfected groups receiving treatment, and GII; and GV showed the lowest count of brain cysts with a 60.8%reduction. Histopathological examination showed that loading CO and GO separately or combined withMOFs-NPs significantly restored the normal architecture of all examined tissues, i.e., brain, eye, liver, andkidney. Using immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, high-density CD8+ infiltration was recorded in theliver section of both GI and GII. While GIII, GIV, and GVI displayed low-density CD8+ infiltration, GV, GVII,and GVIII showed intermediate-density.Conclusion: Loading on MOFs-NPs, CO, and GO offered promising phytotherapy against chronictoxoplasmosis.