Trichinellosis is a serious food-borne
parasitic disease with serious community health effects, mainly causing muscle damage with no recent approved treatment. This study aimed to assess the
therapeutic effect of
gallic acid (GA) as a potent
antioxidant against the encysted phase of Trichinella spiralis in male (BALB/c) mice alone or combined with
albendazole (ALB) and to detect their synergistic effects on the histology and ultrastructure of skeletal and cardiac muscles and some biochemical blood analyses. Forty male mice were randomly divided into five groups (8 mice/group). 1st group: the negative control received only distilled water, 2nd group: the positive control (infected control group without treatment), 3rd group: infected group plus treatment with ALB (50 mg Kg-1 orally), and 4th group: infected group and then treated with GA (30 mg Kg-1 orally) and finally 5th infected group treated with a combination of both ALB and GA.
Aspartate and
Alanine aminotransferase,
Lactate dehydrogenase,
alkaline phosphatase,
C-reactive protein,
Interleukin-4 and
Creatine kinase were used as
biochemical markers of hepatic and
cardiac toxicity and
inflammation.
Malondialdehyde level,
catalase,
superoxide dismutase, and
glutathione peroxidase were evaluated in heart tissue homogenates beside histological and ultra-structural examination of heart and skeletal muscles beside parasitological analyses. Results showed that the reduction % of Trichinella sp. larvae g-1 in muscles of the group treated with the combination of GA and ALB showed overall reduction percentages.
Oral administration of 30 mg kg1 of GA led to
infection reduction of T. spiralis than ALB treated group. Both administration of ALB beside GA showed the best treatment group that resulted in high
infection reduction besides amelioration of both
biochemical markers and restoration of histological and ultrastructures to normal state. In conclusion, GA is highly effective against T. spiralis which could be a promising alternative
antioxidant drug and the GA effect was higher in the case of combination with ALB. This experiment provides a basis for further exploration of potent activities of other
antioxidants against different phases of T. spiralis and the reduction of any health hazards prospectively.