The efficacy of increasing doses of Samorenil® in the treatment of <i>Trypanosoma brucei</i> infected albino rats.

Abstract

The efficacy of increasing doses (3.5, 7.0, 14, and 21 mg/kg) of Samorenil®; a diminazene based trypanocide was investigated in albino rats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma brucei. Thirty albino rats were used for the study. The rats were divided into six groups of five rats each. Groups III, IV, V, VI were infected with 1.0 x 106 trypanosomes intraperitoneally and were later treated at day 9 post infection with 3.5, 7.0, 14 and 21 mg/kg of samorenil® respectively. Group I served as negative control (uninfected untreated) while Group II served as positive control (infected untreated). The parameters monitored for the therapeutic assessment of the increasing doses of Samorenil® were parasitaemia, rectal temperature, packed cell volume (PCV), and body weight. Following treatment, there was complete aparasitaemia at 96 hours post treatment in all the infected treated rats. There was also an improvement in the clinical condition of the experimental rats. Four rats in the positive control (group II) (infected untreated) died by day 35 post infection and the remaining one died at day 70 post infection. Relapse infection however occurred at days 35, 49, and 63-post treatment in groups treated with 3.5, 7.0, and 14 mg/kg respectively. There was no relapse infection in the group treated with 21 mg/kg. It was thus concluded that there may be merit in using higher doses of Samorenil® in the treatment of trypanosomosis. The possible toxic effect of these higher doses however needs to be further investigated to ascertain the safety or otherwise of the higher doses used.

Keywords:Efficacy, Samorenil®, Trypanosoma brucei, Rats.

Nigerian Veterinary Journal Vol. 28 (2) 2007 pp. 24-32