CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The treatment of human alveolar echinococcosis consists of surgery and/or chemotherapy with benzimidazoles-methylcarbamates, mainly albendazole (ABZ). This drug has limited efficacy due to its poor and erratic bioavailability, attributed to its low dissolution rate. Solid dispersions (DSs) are considered a successful strategy to improve the dissolution profile and consequently the absorption of poorly soluble drugs such as ABZ. DSs are defined as the dispersion of one or more drugs in an inert carrier or matrix in the solid state. Recently, ABZ DSs have been developed using Poloxamer 407 (P407) as a carrier. This formulation significantly increased the solubility and dissolution rate of ABZ. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of ABZ:P407 DSs in mice infected with Echinococcus multilocularis. Fifty CF-1 mice were infected intraperitoneally with metacestodes of E. multilocularis. Six weeks post-infection, the mice were divided into 5 groups: 1- Water control; 2- P407 control; 3- ABZ-carboxymethylcellulose suspension; 4- Physical mixture (ABZ+P407) and 5- ABZ:P407 DSs. The treatments were performed orally, every 24 hours for 30 days. In all cases, the ABZ dose was 25 mg/kg. At the end of the treatment (approximately 10 weeks post-infection), mice were euthanized and the metacestodes were recovered. The efficacy of treatments was evaluated by comparing the weight of the cysts and by the ultrastructural alterations studied by scanning electron microscopy. No significant differences were observed between the weight of the cysts recovered from the control groups (P>0.05). All the treatments decreased the development of the cysts. However, only the mice treated with the ABZ:P407 DSs showed a significant decrease in the weight of the cysts (P

enviar mensaje