The Role of Praziquantel in the Prevention and Treatment of Fibrosis Associated with Schistosomiasis: A Review

Table 2

Activity of praziquantel monotherapy against hepatic and splenic fibrosis associated with schistosomiasis japonica.

Animal model	Pattern of fibrosis	Treatment regimen	Effect on schistosomal fibrosis	Reference
BABL/c mouse	Hepatic fibrosis	Praziquantel at a dose of 300 mg/kg twice daily for 30 days administered 8 and 15 weeks postinfection	A significant reduction in the areas of sirius red-stained liver, liver hydroxyproline contents, spleen weight, spleen index, and levels of Col1α1, Col3α1, α-SMA, MMP9, and TIMP1 as compared to infected but untreated controls	31
Rabbit	Hepatic fibrosis	Oral administration of praziquantel at a single dose of 100 mg/kg 6, 12 or 24 weeks postinfection	A significant decrease in portal vein pressure, number and size of egg granulomas, and liver collagen content, and improvement of echogenic bands and nodules	46
Kunming mouse	Hepatic fibrosis	Administration of praziquantel at a daily dose of 500 mg/kg 8 weeks postinfection for 2 days, followed by praziquantel treatment twice a week for 8 weeks	Significantly reduced egg granulomas area, type I and type III collagen levels, and ALT and AST activities, remarkable improvements in liver size and texture, and significantly reduced hepatic fibrosis degree as compared to infected but untreated controls	47
ICR mouse	Hepatic fibrosis	Praziquantel given at a daily dose of 250 mg/kg for 3 days 6 weeks postinfection	A clear-cut decline in diameters of egg granulomas, areas of collagen deposition and α-SMA expression, inhibition of TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA expression, and reduced SEPT4 expression at transcriptional and translation levels as compared to infected but untreated controls	48
Kunming mouse	Hepatic fibrosis	Administration of praziquantel at a daily dose of 500 mg/kg 2 weeks postinfection for 2 days, followed by praziquantel treatment twice a week for 8 weeks	Alleviated fibrotic proliferation and inflammatory infiltration, significantly reduced egg granulomas and hepatocyte degeneration and necrosis, and significantly decreased serum NO, hepatic inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), TGF-β1, type I and type III collagen, and TNF-α levels, and significantly elevated Bcl-2 and INF-γ levels as compared to infected but untreated controls	49–52

Col1α1, collagen Iα1; Col3α1, collagen IIIα1; α-SMA, α-smooth muscle actin; MMP9, matrix metalloproteinase-9; TIMP1, metalloproteinase-1; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor α; TGF-β1, transforming growth factor β1; IL-6, interleukin-6; INF-γ, interferon-γ; ALT, alanine transaminase; AST, aspartate transaminase.