I plan to do an anthelminthic assay using Shorea leaves for my BS thesis and I consulted vets and nurses (unfortunately, we don't have a parasitology department or even a dedicated parasitology professor in our school) and have obtained a wide and contradicting opinions on the matter. I want to get results as close as possible to reality and so I plan to use A. suum as opposed to using C. elegans or P. posthuma. A vet I asked suggested I do an in vivo assay using lab rats as host and T. muris as model organism or A. galli on chicken host. Additionally, they said performing in vitro assay will invalidate my results as the conditions in an in vitro set up may be too artificial and may not reflect what is happening inside the body. One of the nurses I asked suggested I skip using model organisms altogether and use in vitro assay using A. lumbricoides or an in vivo assay of the same organism but on a guinea pig host.
Hi,
If the possibility of performing in vitro assays with the pathogen of interest exists (as it your case), then you should start by the in vitro assays (testing different concentrations and preparations separately against all the pannel of helminths that you mentioned). This will give you the first information on the biological activity of the plant vs. helminths (and against which of all is more active and therefore more promising to be tested in vivo), the (starting) formulation and possibly on the (starting) dose to be further assayed in vivo. With these results you would have rationalized your investigation, you will have for sure enough material for your BS thesis and, if positive, the use of in vivo model(s) would be then, justified (ethics -replacement, reduction and refinement- concerning experimental animals must be always met!). In this sense, you have to be careful when choosing the model 'cause it will depend on your type of study and on the pathogen.
Hope this help,
Good luck!
I think in vitro assay will be better to get result within a short time. You will get a proper idea by in vitro assay but if you want to get exact result you should try in vivo assay but it is time consuming and need to give huge effort. It will be more perfect if you can do both assay.
Thank you.
Anthelmintic drug development includes pre-clinical research ( in vitro studies) and clinical studies (in vivo studies). Scientific validation of the anthelmintic properties of plant extracts is evaluated mainly through in vitro assays, followed by in vivo studies. Considerable physiological differences are expected to be present between the in vitro conditions and in the predilection site of the endo parasites within their host animals, including factors within hosts that affect the bioavailability of the active compounds. In vivo studies are more relevant and more reliable. The results obtained in vitro should be substantiated by in vivo studies.
Don't use P.posthuma as animal model for in vitro studies. It is an annelid living in the terrestrial habitat, the physiology of which differs from the endo parasites. Use only helminth parasites
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