AUTHOR=Ahmed Shahira A. , Eltamany Enas E. , Nafie Mohamed S. , Elhady Sameh S. , Karanis Panagiotis , Mokhtar Amira B. 

TITLE=Anti-Cryptosporidium parvum activity of Artemisia judaica L. and its fractions: in vitro and in vivo assays

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193810

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193810

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>This study investigates the toxic activity of <italic>Artemisia judaica</italic> ethanolic extract (ArEx) as well as its phenolic fraction (ArPh), and terpenoid fraction (ArT) against <italic>Cryptosporidium parvum</italic> (<italic>C. parvum</italic>) oocysts.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Over a 4 months period, estimation of the total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoids (TFC), and total terpenoids contents (TTC) in ArEx; investigation of the <italic>in vitro</italic> antioxidant activity of ArEx, ArPh, and ArT; evaluation of ArEx, ArPh, and ArT toxic activity against <italic>C. parvum</italic> oocysts using MTT assay; parasitological analysis on ArPh-treated <italic>C. parvum</italic> oocysts and comet assay were performed both <italic>in vitro</italic> and <italic>in vivo</italic> (infectivity).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The ArEx TPC, TFC, and TTC was 52.6 ± 3.1 mgGAE/g, 64.5 ± 3.1 mg QE/g, and 9.5 ± 1.1 mg Linol/g, respectively. Regarding the phytochemical <italic>in vitro</italic> antioxidant activity, the ArPh exhibited the highest antioxidant activity compared to the ArEx and ArT. The ArPh showed promising free radical scavenging activity of DPPH and ABTS<sup>•+</sup> with IC<sub>50</sub> values of 47.27 ± 1.86 μg/mL and 66.89 ± 1.94 μg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the FRAP of ArPh was 2.97 ± 0.65 mMol Fe<sup>+2</sup>/g while its TAC was 46.23 ± 3.15 mg GAE/g. The ArPh demonstrated toxic activity against <italic>C. parvum</italic> oocysts with a potent IC<sub>50</sub> value of 31.6 μg/mL compared to ArT (promising) and ArEx (non-effective). ArPh parasitological analysis demonstrated MIC<sub>90</sub> at 1000 μg/ml and effective oocysts destruction on count and morphology. ArPh fragmented oocysts nuclear DNA in comet assay. Beginning at 200 μg/mL, ArPh-treated oocysts did not infect mice.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>To combat <italic>C. parvum</italic> infection, the phenolic fraction of <italic>A. judaica</italic> L. shows promise as an adjuvant therapy or as a source of potentially useful lead structures for drug discovery.</p></sec>