Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nanotechnology has the potential to reduce drug dosage while increasing efficacy; thus, the current work intends to synthesize diclazuril nanoemulsion and assess its performance against experimental coccidiosis in broilers. METHODS: Diclazuril nanoemulsion (DZN) was formulated and characterized by zeta seizer and zeta potential. The formulated DZN was evaluated in vivo against Eimeria tenella infected chicks. DZN and DZ were used in 2 programs; therapeutic and prophylactic. A total of 210 one-day-old broiler chicks were distributed equally into six groups. The controls were negative uninfected untreated and positive infected untreated (G1 & G2). Therapeutic groups (G3 & G4) treated by DZ and DZN after appearance of the clinical signs of coccidiosis and continued for 5 days. Prophylaxis groups (G5 & G6) received DZ and DZN at 3 days before challenge and continued for 5 days after infection. The treatments dosages were 10 mg/mL for DZ of commercial origin and 2.5 mg/mL for the prepared DZN. All groups (except negative control) orally infected then followed up for clinical signs of coccidiosis, mortality rate, oocysts count, performance, hematological and biochemical parameters in addition to histopathological lesions. RESULTS: The therapeutic groups showed that both treated groups (DZ and DZN) revealed similar results including good body weight gain, a low lesion caecal score, a low daily and total oocyst shedding count, and a low mortality rate. Regarding the biochemical parameters, all parameters were affected during infection then restored after the 12th day post infection. However, in the prophylactic groups, showed mild clinical signs and the blood pictures and biochemical parameters were nearly like the control negative without infection. CONCLUSION: DZN at a quarter dose of standard DZ produced the same outcomes as DZ at 10 mg/mL. Furthermore, DZN does not impair the typical safety of diclazuril in treated chicks.