ABSTRACT
Schistosomiasis is considered a wide spread problem that affects Egyptians at different ages. It is well known that the liver is one of the major target organs affected by schistosomiasis, where the most metabolic processes are usually located. The metabolic relationship between parasites and their hosts and the metabolic changes developed in the host as a consequence to infection or drug treatment is a complex phenomenon. The most important metabolic pathways are glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis. Contribution of these pathways elucidate the metabolic relationship between glucose, glycogen and energy release. From this point of view, the aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of the natural plant extracts Pulicaria crispa and Citharexylum quadrangular Jacq on enhancement of some liver enzymes in S.mansoni infected mice representing glycolytic pathway as hexokinase [HK], pyruvate kinase [PK], phosphofractokinase [PFK], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH] and glucose phosphate isomerase [GPI]; glycogenolytic pathway as glycogen phosphorylase, glucose-6-phosphatase [G-6-Pase]; gluconeogenic pathway as fructose-1-6 diphosphatase [F-D-Pase], phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase [PEPCK] and liver function enzymes represented by alanine aminotransferase [ALT], aspartate aminotransferase [AST] and alkaline phosphatase [ALP]. Infection with S.mansoni showed remarkable disturbances in all the enzymes representing the previous metabolic pathways. Prophylactic treatment of infected mice with the natural plant extracts Pulicaria crispa and Citharexylum quadrangular Jacq recorded significant amelioration in all the measured parameters. Protection study through number of worm burden confirmed the obtained results. For evaluating the possible side effects of both extracts, no significant change was observed in all the measured parameters as compared to normal control group