The curative activity of thioridazine on mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of thioridazine (TZ) at different dose levels on mice that had been infected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with a high dose of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis ATCC H37Rv strain.

Groups of five female BALB/C mice were infected i.p. with 10(6) colony forming units/mL. After thirty days, treatment with TZ was initiated, except for the control group. Mice were treated with TZ at equivalent concentrations to that used in the humans (1200 mg/day), ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 mg/day.

The results demonstrated that a daily dose of 0.5 mg/day of TZ reduced the number of colony forming units retrieved from the lungs of infected mice within one month.

By the end of 300 days of therapy, although mycobacteria were still retained their presence, in comparison to that of the control was 8 orders of magnitude lower.