Evaluation of inhibitory effect of methylene blue against <i>Babesia</i> and <i>Theileria</i> parasites

DOI IR
  • Tuvshintulga, B.
    National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
  • Sivakumar, T.
    National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
  • Salama, A.A.
    National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
  • Yokoyama, N.
    National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
  • Igarashi, I.
    National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan

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Description

Methylene blue, the first fully synthetic drug, has been widely used in medical treatments. A few decades ago, this drug was used as an antimalarial agent. In this study, the in vitro inhibitory effect of methylene blue on Babesia bovis, B. bigemina, B. caballi, and Theileria equi (B. equi) and the in vivo inhibitory effect on B. microti were evaluated. Methylene blue significantly inhibited the growth of B. bovis, B. caballi, and T. equi at a 0.1 µM concentration, while B. bigemina was significantly inhibited at 0.01 µM, on day 3 of cultivation. The half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of methylene blue against B. bovis, B. bigemina, B. caballi, and T. equi were calculated as 0.83±0.02, 0.68±0.09, 0.54±0.14, and 0.49±0.06 µM, respectively. The subsequent viability assays, in which drug-free media were used for the cultivation, showed that there were no growths of B. bovis or B. bigemina that had been previously treated with 10 µM methylene blue. Similarly, B. caballi and T. equi that had been previously treated with 1 µM methylene blue failed to grow in the viability tests. As for the in vivo inhibition assay, the high dose of methylene blue showed a low inhibitory effect on the in vivo growth of <i>B. microti</i> at 50 mg/kg body weight treatment groups as compared with the untreated group. Therefore, methylene blue might not be used for against Babesia and Theileria parasites.

Journal

  • The Journal of Protozoology Research

    The Journal of Protozoology Research 25 (1-2), 18-28, 2015

    National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine

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