i have few sets of small molecules which I want to test in BALB/c mice against Plasmodium berghei strain using artemisinin as a positive control.
Also I was wondering whether artemisinin is correct control or derivative of artemisinin I should use; and what concentration of test molecule and control should be used.
I cannot answer to what control you should use, but I can give you guidelines of how to find the concentration for in vivo use.
These small molecules, you should have an in vitro concentration or a range of concentrations that they are effective against the strain. The trick is to get the concentration up to that dose in vivo, and it'll have to have enough of a half life for it to be effective.
First, based on how you deliver the small molecule, do you know how long it'll last in vivo? If not, probably a good thing to test first. And for the concentrations of this test, you should start with either 10x or 5x the concentrations that is effective in vitro.
Then based on the half life and the concnetration in tissue, you will know how often you will have to give the small molecule through the duration of the experiment.
And since artemisinin is used against malaria, there should already be published dosage and frequency. And you can reduce it by estimating how much a normal size human weighs versus a mouse.
Thank you Shen An Hwang for the information you shared. It solves most of by doubts but I do need to ask that whether I should try all modes of delivery like oral and SC and IP or stick to any one of them. Does all three different modes show variations in activity when small molecules are given to animals
I don't think you need to try ALL delivery modes, not at this stage. (I always do the easiest first, unless you want to try to match the delivery route of the control.)
Oral (most likely gavage to control for dosage) is usually preferred if you are testing how these molecule will be taken by the human patient. But the dosage required for delivery is usually a lot higher then if you inject it.
As for SC or IP or even IV, it depends.
SC is usually used for vaccination delivery, but I guess you can use it to delivery drugs.
IP is probably the easiest, and is sometimes used in lieu of IV, unless you want to target tissues outside the peritoneal, and then IV would be more direct. But even then, I have IP injected drugs to target pathology development in the lung. IP might be your easiest choice to investigate first.
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