RESUMO
Objective To study the protective effect of Astragalus membrance on mice infected with tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii. Methods ICR mice were infected intraperitoneally with 10 5, 10 3, 10 2 tachyzoites of virulent RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii, and the mice were orally treated with Astragalus membrance 0 075 g/d per mouse or Azithromycin [150 mg/(d?kg)] each day starting from day 1 post-infection for 10 days. The survival rate and period were investigated. The parasite loads of livers and lungs of the mice infected with 10 2 tachyzoites were determined by fluorescence PCR methods at 4 day-post-infection (dpi) and 8 dpi. Results When infected with 10 5, 10 3 tachyzoites, treated with Astragalus membrance, the average survived days of the mice were 5 57 days and 6 23 days, and treated with azithromycin were 6 96 days and 8 12 days respectively. The azithromycin group but not the astragli group survived significantly longer than the control(P