ABSTRACT
Biological effects of piroxicam, metamizol, and S-adenosylmethionine (S-AMET) have been tested in NMRI mice infected intraperitoneally with Trichomonas vaginalis. An intraperitoneal treatment during ten preinfection days with piroxicam (10 mg/Kg/day), or metamizol (275 mg/Kg/day), but not with S-AMET (117 mg/Kg/day) induced a significant decrease of abdominal lesions and mortality, assessed by means of a pathogenicity index. The trichomonicidal activity of piroxicam, metamizol, and S-AMET was tested in vitro at the concentration of 300 microM, but found ineffective. These assays have shown the usefulness of the experimental trichomoniasis model for the study of the immunomodulating activity of synthetic drugs.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/pharmacology , Dipyrone/pharmacology , Piroxicam/pharmacology , S-Adenosylmethionine/pharmacology , Trichomonas Vaginitis/drug therapy , Trichomonas vaginalis/drug effects , Animals , Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/therapeutic use , Ascites , Dipyrone/therapeutic use , Disease Models, Animal , Female , Humans , Injections, Intraperitoneal , Mice , Mice, Inbred Strains , Piroxicam/therapeutic use , Random Allocation , S-Adenosylmethionine/therapeutic use , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
A simple method to screen trichomonacides, based on the quantification of acid phosphatase (AP) activity, has been designed. Using p-nitrophenyl phosphate as chromogenic substrate, we first determined the optimal conditions for enzyme reaction. After seeding, a linear correlation between number of trichomonads and optical densities at 405 nm was obtained at 24 hr but not at 48 hr. Then, the inhibitory effect of metronidazole was assessed both by microscope counts and by AP determination. Similar values for 50% inhibitory concentrations (2.6 microM), with 95% confidence limits of 1.91-3.33 for microscopic and 2.21-3.05 for colorimetric method, were obtained. We concluded that the colorimetric method described in this investigation is suitable for pharmacological studies and for the screening of new, potential antitrichomonal agents.
