Immunomodulatory effect of some pharmaceuticals and herbs on the progress of hepatic injury induced by schistosoma mansoni in mice : An experimental study / Reham Refaat Mostafa Ashmawy ; Supervised Maha Hassan Elarousy , Maisa Ahmed Shalaby , Reham Kamal Mohamed

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Parasitology

Morbidity and mortality in schistosomiasis mansoni is much attributed to the development of portal hypertension as a sequel of liver fibrosis associated with granuloma formation.TGF-Ý with its known fibrogenic action is one of the cytokines involved in the process of liver fibrosis. The objective of this experimental study done on a mice schistosomiasis model was to investigate the impact of clove oil, Lisinopril (an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor or ACEI) and Praziquantel (PZQ) in its classical dose (S.O.D-PZQ), alone or preceding clove oil or Lisinopril, and as long duration treatment regimen (LD-PZQ) on the progress of acute and chronic hepatic lesions, including the effect of these medications on liver fibrosis, the latter expressed by the level of TGF-Ý in fibroblasts and hepatocytes measured by quantitative automated image analysis of immunohistochemically stained liver sections. Variable degrees of reduction in liver granuloma size and number and in intestinal and hepatic tissue ova count were achieved by all medication regimens. Immunohistochemistry revealed a drop in the TGF-Ý expression level with all treatment regimens, lowest and highest reduction recorded with S.O.D-PZQ and LD-PZQ, respectively. Comparatively high reduction was obtained with Lisinopril, especially if preceded with a dose of PZQ, reflecting the high anti-fibrotic potential for such drug combination. In addition, a positive correlation was established between TGF-Ý expression levels and granuloma mean number and diameter. Prolongation of the duration of the experiment is recommended in order to visualize the reflection of the lowered cytokine levels achieved by the applied treatment regimens on liver fibrosis and thus the clinical outcomes

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