Abstract
Since last centuries, herbal medicines have been considered as
the main source for prevention and treatment a broad spectrum
of illnesses as well as infectious diseases. Here we evaluated the in
vivo activity of Berberis vulgaris methanolic root extract against
acute toxoplasmosis induced by Toxoplasma gondii, RH strain.
Male NMRI mice orally treated with B. vulgaris methanolic
extract at the dose of 1 and 2 g/kg once a day for 14 days after 24
h mice were infected intraperitoneally with 104 tachyzoites of T.
gondii, RH strain. The mortality rate in all infected mice and also
parasite load were determined to assess the efficacy B. vulgaris
methanolic extract against acute toxoplasmosis in mice model.
The obtained results demonstrated that the mortality rate of
infected mice was 100%, in 9th day after orally administration of
B. vulgaris at the concentrations of 1 and 2 g/kg; while all mice
in the control group were death in 5th day. Moreover obtained
findings revealed that the mean number of tachyzoites was
131×104 and 79×104 for infected mice treated with B. vulgaris
at the concentrations of 1 and 2 g/kg, respectively, whereas in
control group the mean number of tachyzoites was 288×104
parasite. The obtained findings demonstrated the potential
of B. vulgaris as a natural source for the production of new
prophylactic agent for use in toxoplasmosis.