Abstract
Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic intracellular protozoon which may cause severe disease in the immunocompromised patients. Unfortunately, the majority of treatments on the market work against tachyzoites in the acute infection but can't affect tissue cysts in the chronic phase. So, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of bee venom (BV) loaded metal organic frameworks (MOFs) nanoparticles (NPs) for the treatment of chronic murine toxoplasmosis. Ninety laboratory Swiss Albino mice were divided into 9 groups (10 mice each); GI (negative control), GII (infected control), GIII-GXI (infected with Me49 strain of Toxoplasma and treated); GIII (MOFs-NPs), GIV and GV (BV alone and loaded on MOFs-NPs), GVI and GVII (spiramycin alone and loaded on MOFs-NPs), GVIII and GIX (ciprofloxacin alone and loaded on MOFs-NPs). Parasitological examination of brain cyst count, histopathological study of brain, retina, liver, and kidney tissue sections and immunohistochemical (IHC) evaluation of liver was performed. Counting of Toxoplasma brain cysts showed high statistically significant difference between the infected treated groups and GII. GV showed the least count of brain cysts; mean ± SD (281 ± 29.5). Histopathological examination revealed a marked ameliorative effect of BV administration when used alone or loaded MOFs-NPs. It significantly reduced tissue inflammation, degeneration, and fibrosis. IHC examination of liver sections revealed high density CD8+ infiltration in GII, low density CD8+ infiltration in GIII, GVI, GVII, GVIII, and GIX while GIV and GV showed intermediate density CD8+ infiltration. BV is a promising Apitherapy against chronic toxoplasmosis. This effect is markedly enhanced by MOFs-NPs.