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Keywords
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cystic echinocosis, microemulsion, monoterpen, protoscolecs, surgery
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Abstract
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Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most important zoonotic diseases. The primary
treatment is surgery and chemical sterilization of the parasitic layers by injection
of a scolicidal agent. Available scolicidals possess side effects, and may cause
postoperative complications. Several studies reported the scolicidal properties of
monoterpene phenols and alcohols such as carvacrol, thymol, and geraniol. The present
study aimed to develop, characterize, and assess monoterpene loaded microemulsions
as novel green scolicidals products. For this purpose, microemulsions
composing 0.37%, 0.75%, and 1.5% of monoterpenoid(s), thymol, carvacrol, and geraniol,
alone or in binary or ternary mixtures were formulated. Samples were analyzed
by visual inspection, polarizing optical microscope, and dynamic light scattering
(DLS). The stability of the samples was evaluated up to a 3-month storage. For the
scolicidal bioassay, samples at different concentrations of 200, 100, 50, 25, and
10 μg/ml were added to wells containing 104 viable protoscoleces and mortality rates
were recorded at 2, 5, 10, and 20 min after exposure. Results of the present study
showed that microemulsions formulated with 0.75% of pure carvacrol or the binary
mixture of thymol and carvacrol at 0.375% are promising scolicidal agents.
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