Evaluation of the in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects of quercetin on the growth of Babesia and Theileria parasites

AbouLaila, Mahmoud; Abdelaziz, Amer; Rizk, Mohamed; Mady, Rehab; Yokoyama, Naoaki; Igarashi, Ikuo

doi:10.21608/djvs.2019.53159

Evaluation of the in vitro and in vivo inhibitory effects of quercetin on the growth of Babesia and Theileria parasites

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22511, El-Behera, Egypt

² Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag82524, Egypt

³ Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

⁴ Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22511, El-Behera, Egypt

⁵ Department of Disease Control, National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-Cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido

10.21608/djvs.2019.53159

Abstract

Quercetin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitrypanosomal, and antimalarial activities. The hindering properties of quercetin were appraised for three Babesia species and Theileria equi in vitro and against Babesia microti in mice. Quercetin exhibited substantial growth restraint for Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina, Babesia caballi, and Theileria equi with IC50 values of 8, 7, 5, and 4 nM, respectively. T. equi growth was suppressed at 50 μM concentration. Parasite regrowth was repressed in the consequent viability test at 100 μM for Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina and 50 μM for Babesia caballi and Theileria equi. Quercetin at a dose rate of 14.5 mg/kg raised a 77.5 % reticence of Babesia microti progression in BALB/c mice. Quercetin might be of value as a treatment in babesiosis and theileriosis.

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