Discussion

There are over 300 species of helminths associated with humans and more than half of these species inhabit the GI tract. Children are the most at risk of these infections and prevalence rate is very high and gets close to 100% in some endemic areas. Although there are the number of anthelminthics available the developments of resistance means we need new drugs urgently. The objective of this study is to develop assay for screening for activity of compound against helminthic parasites (Trichinella spiralis). We evaluated the colorimetric Alamar Blue method for screening for anthelminthic activity of novel compounds. Alamar Blue assay was performed in 96-well culture plates and different concentrations of T. spiralis muscle larvae were used in triplicate and incubated at 37ºC in 5% CO2 in presence of Alamar Blue (10% v/v). Levamisole (LEV) and nitazoxanide (NIT) were used as positive controls for this assay. The results showed that Alamar Blue assay is non-toxic, fast and provide quantitative data for screening of compounds active for T. spiralis. We have identified 11 novel compounds, which displayed activity against the parasite in vitro. We will next evaluate these compounds for activities against other helminth parasites in vitro (Heligmosomoides polygyrus) as well as their in vivo efficacy.