CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Taeniidae parasites remain public health issues in many regions of the world, especially in poor communities. In humans the most frequent form of the disease is neurocysticercosis. The aim of this work was to formulate Praziquantel (PZQ) nanoparticles to determine its effect on the energetic metabolism of T. crassiceps cysticerci. The influence of preparation parameters on particle size, stabilizer type and concentration were evaluated. PZQwas dissolved in etanol at 25°C, the organic solution was injected dropwise into an aqueous phase containing a poloxamer derivative and kept under agitation to get a desired dispersion. The dispersion was then stirred magnetically at 500 rpm at room temperature to evaporate organic solvent. Solids were collected after filtration, washed with deionized water and lyophilized. All samples were prepared in triplicate. Female Balb/c mice with 8-12 weeks old were intraperitoneally inoculated with 10 cysticerci of T. crassiceps (HYG strain). 30 days post-infection the mice were divided into three groups: a) Group 1 received one oral dose of 50mg/kg of PZQ-P188. b) Group 2 received one oral dose of 50mg/kg of Praziquantel. c) Group 3 received one oral dose of saline solution. 24 hours after the treatment the mice were euthanized and the cysticerci removed from the intraperitoneal cavity, washed with PBS and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The cysticerci were processed and analyzed through HPLC to detect the organic acids. It was possible to detect the following organic acids: citrate, oxaloacetate, pyruvate, malate, acetate and fumarate which confirmed the partial inversion of the tricarboxylic acid cycle that occurs in helminths. In groups 1 and 2 was possible to detect an increase in the oxaloacetate production and a decrease in the fumarate production when compared to the control group (group 3) (p