Comparison of Scolicidal Effects of Amphotricin B, Silver Nano¬particles, and Foeniculum vulgare Mill on Hydatid Cysts Protoscoleces

Surgery is the preferred treatment for hydatid cyst (cystic echinococ­cosis, CE). At present, various scolicidal agents have been used for inactiva­tion of protoscoleces during surgery, but they are associated with adverse side effects. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the scolicidal effects of amphotricin B, Silver nano particles, Foeniculum vulgare Mill, essential oil and hyper­tonic saline against protoscoleces of hydatid cyst on an in vitro model. Protoscoleces were aseptically aspirated from the naturally infected livers of sheep and goats. Various concentrations of AmB (2.5-20 mg/ml), Ag-NPs (0.5-4 mg/ml), F. vulgare essential oil (0.125- 1 mg/ml) and hypertonic saline (10-20%) were used for 5-60 min. Eosin exclusion test was used to determine the viabil­ity of protoscoleces. Maximum protoscolicidal effect of AmB and Ag-NPs was found at concen­trations of 20 and 4 mg/mL, resulting in only 82.3% and 71.6% of the proto­scoleces after 60 min of incubation, respectively. In contrast, F. vul­gare essential oil at concentration of 1 mg/ml and hypertonic saline 20% killed 100% protoscoleces after 5 and 10 min of exposure, respectively. The results indicated weak scolicidal activity of AmB and Ag-NPs; whereas F. vulgare essential oil had potent scolicidal activity against protoscoleces of hydatid cyst that revealed the potential of F. vulgare as a natural source for the produc­tion of new scolicidal agent for use in hydatid cyst surgery. However, fur­ther studies will be needed to confirm these results by checking the essential oil and its active component in the in vivo model.