Schistosoma mansoni eggs as a target for praziquantel: efficacy of oral application in mice

A study was undertaken to investigate the effect of administering a double oral dose of praziquantel (PZQ), given 9 days apart, on the egg viability in Schistosoma mansoni infected mice. The viability of eggs trapped in the tissues and those excreted in the faeces was determined using morphological (oogram) and function (egg hatching) criteria. Nine days after the first dose of PZQ, 90.5% of eggs excreted in the faeces were judged to be viable by the egg hatch method, as were 98.0% of eggs excreted from the control mice. However, only 44.0% of the eggs isolated from the intestine of PZQ treated mice were viable compared with 82.5% in the pretreatment group or 93.0% in the control group. Similar results were obtained for viability of eggs isolated from the intestine, by both the hatching and oogram methods. There was a dramatic reduction in the viability of eggs in liver tissue 9 days after the first dose of PZQ (13.0%) when compared with either the untreated controls (85.3%) or eggs in the livers of mice prior to PZQ treatment (80.0%). Following a second dose of PZQ (69 DPI), no eggs were detected in the faeces by 78 DPI, and eggs in the tissues were no longer viable. These data confirm the susceptibility of mature eggs of S. mansoni to a single dose of PZQ, but also demonstrate that the remaining immature eggs are undamaged and mature in the tissues of infected mice. Administration of a second dose of PZQ, 9 days after the first is suggested as an alternative treatment strategy assuring killing of all the schistosome eggs.