Schistosoma mansoni: experimental chemoprophylaxis in mice using oral anti-penetration agents

The ability to prevent schistosomiasis by using an oral chemoprophylactic agent, which acts by preventing cercarial penetration, has been unexplored. We initially examined the effect of praziquantel (PZQ) as such an agent and found that it was moderately effective in blocking cercarial penetration, but that this effect was dependent on the vehicle used to administer the drug. ICR mice were given a total of 200 mg/kg PZQ per os over an 8-hr period in a divided dose of 50 mg/kg/2 hr. At time periods ranging from 0 to 92 hr after the last dose, mice were exposed to approximately 75 75Se-labeled cercariae via the tail. Twenty-four hours later, mice were sacrificed, their tails were removed and subjected to autoradiography, and the percentage of penetration was calculated. Cremophor El, 50% PEG 200, 50% propylene glycol, vegetable oil, and cod liver oil were used as PZQ vehicles. When Cremophor El (ethoxylated castor oil) was used to administer PZQ, a 93% reduction in cercarial penetration was seen at 0 hr and a 98%+ reduction rate was seen from 4 to 24 hr postexposure. However, Cremophor El alone had an essentially equivalent effect on cercarial penetration from 8 to 92 hr after administration. These unexpected results led us to investigate both castor oil and ricinoleic acid (castor oil is 87% ricinoleate as triglyceride) as oral anti-penetration agents. Mice were given the lipids orally by gavage for 7 days. On Day 8, each group of 12 mice was exposed to approximately 75 75Se-radiolabeled cercariae. Castor oil gave protection rate ranging from 90 to almost 100% at an optimal concentration of 0.3 ml/day x 3 or 7 days (approximately 9.8 g/kg/day). These observations suggest that chemoprophylaxis may be possible by dietary supplementation with lipids having anti-penetration activity or by molecules that resemble these lipids.