In-vivo Comparison of The Efficacy of Nigella sativa, Thymoquinone and Capsaicin against Toxoplasma gondii with Pyrimetamine-Sulfadiazine

INTRODUCTION: Toxoplasma gondii is estimated to infect one-third of the world’s human population. Pyrimethamine-Sulfadiazine is recommended for the treatment of toxoplasmosis. These drugs cannot eliminate dormant tissue cysts. It was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Nigella sativa oil, thymoquinone and capsaicin in combination with PYR-SDZ for in vivo treatment of the toxoplasmosis, and to observe the survival time of mice and the number of tachyzoites.
METHODS: The study was carried out as two separate experiments. Balb/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with 105 and 103T. gondii. After 24 hours, treatment was started with different doses of Nigella sativa oil, thymoquinone and capsaicin for 10 days. The effects of these components were evaluated compared to the combination of PYR-SDZ. Mortality and tachyzoite amounts of the mice were calculated for 30 days.
RESULTS: In both experiments, mice in the PYR-SDZ group lived to the full, afterwards, the life expectancy of the capsaicin (50 mg/kg/day) group (5.625 days in experiment 1 and 7.125 days in experiment 2) was found to be higher than the other groups (p<0.05). Since early losses occurred in both experimental groups, tachyzoite count was not performed in groups other than PYR-SDZ. Tachyzoites were not observed in the PYR-SDZ groups after day 10. It was determined that after the PYR-SDZ group in the treatment of toxoplasmosis, capsaicin displayed the highest probability of survival.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, we believe that the combined use of capsaicin with PYR-SDZ can increase life expectancy by reducing the side effects of the drug.