PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF ASTRAGALUS MEMBRANCE ON MICE OF ACUTE TOXOPLASMOSIS / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

ABSTRACT

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