Three experimental animal parasite models for assessing anthelmintic efficacy and immunopotentiating properties of natural products: protocols and applications

Abstract

Introduction: Helminthic infections, including soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) and intestinal tapeworms, pose a major global health challenge, classified as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Objective: Current control efforts are hampered by expensive treatments, emerging drug resistance, and high reinfection rates. This necessitates the urgent discovery of new anthelmintic drugs and immunomodulatory compounds. Natural products are a promising source for these new therapies. Materials and methods: This paper introduces three experimental animal parasite models specifically designed to evaluate the effectiveness and immune-boosting properties of natural products, namely Hymenolepis diminuta (tapeworm) in mice, Ascaridia galli (nematode) in chickens, and Raillietina cesticillus (tapeworm) in chickens. Rationale: These models provide controlled environments for assessing potential therapeutic compounds and offer systematic methodologies for identifying effective and immunomodulatory natural products. Conclusions: A significant challenge in treating helminth infections is targeting larval stages embedded in host tissues, such as those seen with Hymenolepis nana in humans and hypobiotic trichostrongylid nematode larvae in ruminants. Therefore, demonstrating a natural product's effectiveness against A. galli larvae embedded in the intestinal mucosa is particularly important. Such efficacy would indicate that the product possesses valuable physicochemical and pharmacological properties, paving the way for developing novel treatments against hidden, tissue-dwelling parasites in both humans and animals.