Trypanocidal Effects of Cisplatin alone and in Combination with Nigella sativa Oil on Experimentally Infected Mice with Trypanosoma evansi

Due to the limited number of the available drugs for the treatment of trypanosomiasis, this study was designed to evaluate the trypanocidal effects of cisplatin or/and Nigella sativa oil (NSO) in experimentally infected mice with T. evansi.
During 2015 at the Parasitology Department, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt, sixty Swiss albino mice were divided into six groups: normal control (I), infected control (II); cisplatin-treated (III); NSO-treated (IV); combined cisplatin NSO-treated (V) and diminazene-treated (VI). The tested drugs were evaluated by the assessment of parasitaemia, measurement of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, creatinine, serum IgM and a histopathological study.
NSO showed a trypanocidal effect, however; it was not as effective as cisplatin or diminazene. There were significant increases of AST, ALT, urea, and creatinine in group II and III, which were significantly reduced in cisplatin NSO-treated group (V). Moreover, there were significant reductions in serum IgM and the pathological changes of the examined organs of group V when they were compared with other treated groups.
Cisplatin combined with NSO showed a trypanocidal effect against T. evansi with preservation of vital organs functions and architecture.