The effects of treatment with ivermectin, mebendazole or tiabendazole, during five days, on the larval recovery and immune response to Toxocara canis in experimental chronically infected mice were studied. Animals were bled, using the retro-orbital plexus between the 30th and the 270th days post-infection (Dpi), and sera were processed by ELISA technique for IgG antibodies using ES antigen from T. canis. On day 270 all the animals were killed for larval recovery in the central nervous system, liver, lungs and carcass. Immunoenzimatic test results indicate that 20 days after treatment (50 DPI) the anti-Toxocara IgG antibody level increased in the three treated groups and remained elevated until 270 DPI. It was observed a significative decrease in larvae recovered from treated animals when compared to infected but no treated animals with no parasitological cure. The present study shows that the three drugs used in the experiment have similar efficacy.
Mice; Experimental model; Toxocara canis; Larvae; IgG antibodies; Ivermectin; Mebendazole; Tiabendazole
