Abstract

Since last centuries, herbal medicines have been considered as the main source for prevention and treatment a broad spectrum of illnesses as well as infectious diseases. Here we evaluated the in vivo activity of Berberis vulgaris methanolic root extract against acute toxoplasmosis induced by Toxoplasma gondii, RH strain. Male NMRI mice orally treated with B. vulgaris methanolic extract at the dose of 1 and 2 g/kg once a day for 14 days after 24 h mice were infected intraperitoneally with 10(4) tachyzoites of T. gondii, RH strain. The mortality rate in all infected mice and also parasite load were determined to assess the efficacy B. vulgaris methanolic extract against acute toxoplasmosis in mice model. The obtained results demonstrated that the mortality rate of infected mice was 100, in 9th day after orally administration of B. vulgaris at the concentrations of 1 and 2 g/kg; while all mice in the control group were death in 5th day. Moreover obtained findings revealed that the mean number of tachyzoites was 131x10(4) and 79x10(4) for infected mice treated with B. vulgaris at the concentrations of 1 and 2 g/kg, respectively, whereas in control group the mean number of tachyzoites was 288x10(4) parasite. The obtained findings demonstrated the potential of B. vulgaris as a natural source for the production of new prophylactic agent for use in toxoplasmosis.