EJMS

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a chronic, debilitating, parasitic disease endemic in 77 countries and affects over 237 million worldwide. No therapy has been proved to prevent progressive hepatic fibrosis which is associated with granulomatous hypersensitivity to parasite eggs. The neuropeptide somatostatin (SST) is reported to decrease portal pressure, control variceal bleeding and fibrosis. This work aimed to evaluate the effect of SST on different parasitological, biochemical, and pathological parameters that reflect disease severity and morbidity in murine schistosomiasis. A total of two hundred male laboratory bred albino mice were included. The mice were divided into 5 groups (40 mice each); Group I: non infected control group. Other groups were subcutaneously infected with 50 Schistosoma mansoni cercariae; Group II: infected untreated group (infected control group), Group III: infected then treated with PZQ 500 mg/kg body weight as a single oral dose 6 weeks post infection, Group IV: infected and treated with SST intraperitoneally in a dose of 30 µg 2doses /day for three successive days, 8 weeks post infection and Group V: infected and treated with both PZQ and SST as the previous regimen. SST led to insignificant reduction on worm burden but highly significantly reduce hepatic and intestinal egg load with an increase in percentage of dead eggs in oogram pattern. It led to significant reduction of granuloma size, significant increase of serum paraoxonase 1and significant decrease in serum leptin level. The best results were in combined PZQ and SST treatment group. Our results point to SST as a promising anti-fibrotic agent; it could be introduced as a therapeutic tool with PZQ in the treatment of schistosomal liver fibrosis.