Omeprazole as an Adjuvant to Praziquantel in Treatment of Experimental Schistosomiasis Mansoni

Abstract
Background: Schistosomiasis is an important parasitic disease. It has a chronic course with noticeable residual effects on health. Praziquantel (PZQ) is recommended by the WHO as the first line in treatment of schistosomiasis. Unfortunately, it has low efficacy against schistosomula and the juveniles stages which can compromise its efficacy. This further needs more research to find new drugs that improve the effectiveness of PZQ. Omeprazole has been found experimentally to have antiparasitic properties against many parasites such as Leish-mania donovani, Plasmodium falciparum, Trichomonas vag-inalis, Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia.
Aim of the Study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of omeprazole as an adjuvant with PZQ in mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni (S. mansoni).
Material and Methods: For this aim, 100 laboratory bred clean male Swiss albino mice were divided into three groups including group I (Normal), group II (Control), group III infected and treated at 4 weeks post infection (P.I.). Group III was divided into 3 subgroups a (treated with PZQ), b (treated with omeprazole) and c (combined treatment). At 6 weeks P.I., all mice were submitted to the following: Count of juveniles worms, liver egg load, histopathological exami-nation of the liver.
Results: The results showed significant reduction of counts of juveniles worms, liver egg loads and improvement of the pathological changes in the liver in combined treatment group at 6 weeks P.I. as compared to PZQ treated group.
Conclusions: From these results, it was concluded that combination of omeprazole with PZQ shows synergistic effect in the treatment of S. mansoni-infected mice. Therefore, further studies should be done to establish the mechanisms of action of omeprazole and to examine its beneficial effects.