The anti-echinococcal activity of crocin in mice experimentally infected with Echinococcus granulosus

Herbal preparations have good medicinal value for potential use as therapeutic agents in cystic echinococcosis. The efficiency of crocin in the case of cystic echinococcosis was investigated, and compared with that of albendazole, one of the few licensed anti-echinococcosis drugs that served as a positive control. Five months after infecting BALB/C mice with E. granulosus sensu lato the experimental group was divided into 7 subgroups containing 10 animals each: 1- Crocin 80 (80 mg/kg), 2- Crocin 40 (40 mg/kg), 3- Crocin 10 (10 mg/kg), 4- Albendazole (200 mg/kg), 5- Crocin 10 (10 mg/kg) +Albendazole (100 mg/kg), 6- Crocin 20 (20 mg/kg) +Albendazole (50 mg/kg), 7- the control (infected and untreated). After two weeks of daily treatment, significant reductions of cysts' weights, sizes, and total numbers concerning the control group were achieved by treatment with crocin 80, crocin 40, crocin 10, crocin 10 + ABZ100, crocin 20+ ABZ50 and ABZ200 (p < 0.05). Moreover, there was no difference concentrations of crocin and those treated with albendazole,. The concentration of bilirubin was higher in the control group than all treated groups with crocin, significantly. However, the ALT activity showeda significant decrease in the crocin 10 group, compared to the crocin 80, crocin 40, crocin 10 + ABZ100, crocin 20 + ABZ50, control groups (p < 0.05). Based on our results, the administration of crocin used at 10 mg/kg concentrations seems a hopeful applicant for the treatment of cystic echinococcosis.