Therapeutic Potency of Ginger, Garlic, and Pomegranate Extracts Against Cryptosporidium parvum-Mediated Gastro-Splenic Damage in Mice

Abstract

Purpose Cryptosporidium parvum is a protozoan parasite infecting most mammalian hosts and causing major health issues. The present study investigated the efficacy of ginger (Zingiber officinale), garlic (Allium sativum), and pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel extracts on the development and progression of experimental cryptosporidiosis in mice. Methods Eighty-two mice were assigned to 6 groups: control, infected non-treated, metronidazole (MTZ), ginger, garlic, and pomegranate. The control group topically received no treatments. The infected non-treated group was experimentally infected by 104C. parvum oocysts per mouse using a stomach tube. The MTZ group was infected with C. parvum oocysts combined with MTZ (50 mg/kg b.w./day). The ginger, garlic, and pomegranate groups daily received different plant extracts at doses of 100 mg/kg BW, 50 mg/kg BW, and 3 gm/kg BW, respectively, followed by infection with C. parvum oocysts. All treatments were applied orally one day after the infection for continuous 30 days. Results Histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations for P53 and caspase-3 expressions in stomach and spleen tissues showed that MTZ and garlic-treated mice had a more significant effect on infected mice. Conclusion The garlic extract was found to exert a more pronounced effect on infected mice compared with the other treatments as well as to improve health. Garlic extracts, therefore, represent an effective and natural therapeutic alternative for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis with low side effects and without drug resistance.

Green synthesis of zinc oxide/Allium sativum nano‐composite and its efficacy against murine cryptosporidiosis

“…Intestinal sections of AS‐treated mice showed a reduction in the number of Cryptosporidium oocysts, as well as submucosal mild edema and capillary congestion. Similarly, El‐Shewehy et al (2022) reported a few Cryptosporidium oocysts with mild degenerative lesions of the gastric lining epithelial cells after treatment with garlic extract. Contrarily, Gaafar (2012) and Abouel‐Nour et al (2016) found that treating infected mice with garlic led to the complete eradication of Cryptosporidium oocysts from their feces and intestinal sections.…”

“…Several attempts were made to evaluate plant and medicinal herb extracts for the treatment and prevention of cryptosporidosis in vivo and in vitro, including the use of curcumin (Asadpour et al, 2018), olive ethanolic extract (Teichmann et al, 2016), Citrus sinensis peel extract (Abd El Wahab et al, 2022), and Herniaria hemistemon aerial extract (Ghareeb et al, 2023). Additionally, a number of investigates have been carried out to evaluate the impact of A. sativum extracts on cryptosporidiosis (Abouel‐Nour et al, 2016; EL‐Shewehy et al, 2022; Farid et al, 2022). However, according to the available literature, green ZnO‐NPs have not been used in any previous studies for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis.…”

The influence of plant extracts on viability of ST3 and ST7 subtypes of Blastocystis sp.

“…Garlic and turmeric extracts exhibited the highest inhibitory effect in relation to the ST3 viability. The garlic activity was also observed with other protozoan parasites, such as Giardia lamblia [ 66 , 67 ], Cryptosporidium parvum [ 68 ], and Entamoeba histolytica [ 23 ] . According to the literature, Blastocystis ST7 has been shown to be more resistant to anti-parasitic drugs [ 69 , 70 ] and against the host innate immune response [ 71 ] compared to ST1 and ST4 isolates.…”