Dicrocoelium dendriticum
affects the livers of ruminants and causes several deleterious effects on animal health status. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of permeability-glycoprotein ...(P-gp) in absorption of praziquantel (PZQ) into
D. dendriticum
flukes by co-incubation with verapamil (VPL), an inhibitor of P-gp, under in vitro conditions. Mature flukes of
D. dendriticum
were collected from naturally infected sheep livers. The flukes were incubated with different concentrations of PZQ and VPL (50 and 100 μg/ml) in culture media and after several times of exposure (2, 6, 12, and 24 h), the concentration of PZQ absorbed in the parasites was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. At 2-h post-incubation, the highest concentration of PZQ was noted as 0.92 µg/ml in the flukes treated with 100 μg/ml of each PZQ and VPL. After 24-h of exposure, VPL at all tested concentrations resulted in significant increase in absorption of PZQ into the parasite. Co-incubation of lancet flukes with VPL and PZQ roughly doubled the absorption of PZQ into them. Results of tegumental structures analysis by light microscopy confirmed higher efficacy of combination of VPL and PZQ. In conclusion, co-administration of VPL, especially at the concentration of 100 μg/ml, was able to increase PZQ uptake in
Dicrocoelium
flukes at all time points of the study.
Human linguatulosis is a rare but highly specialized pentastomid parasitic infection all around the world. The disease is caused by worm-like parasites which share some morphologic features of ...arthropods and annelids. The life cycle of
Linguatula
spp. is provided as an example of pentastomid biology. The adult forms of
Linguatula
spp. are found in the nasal passages and frontal sinuses of dogs and other canids, domestic animals, and humans. Infestation may occur in the viscera, where immature forms develop in the liver, spleen, lungs, eyes, and other organs, or in the nasopharyngeal area. This review includes previous studies on the genus
Linguatula
in Iran and other countries from 1940 to 2019. Considering a few reports of human infestation, a comprehensive search was performed on both English and Persian databases for publications reporting human cases all around the world. Finally, 30 papers of 62 human cases were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 25.8 years (varied from 8 to 79 years). Altogether, 41 (66.1%) and 21 (33.9%) of the patients were female and male respectively. The maximum cases (
n
= 25) were from Sudan. Nasopharynx was the most frequently involved organ in human cases. Our findings offer that physicians should consider the
Linguatula
infection in patients with complaints like unexpected dysphagia, with coughing, sneezing, and vomiting, after consuming raw/undercooked contaminated ruminant’s viscera.
