In vitro study of the effect of hydroalcholic extracts of Carum copticum and Ferula asafetida against Trichomonas vaginalis

Ttrichomoniasis is a disease with high prevalence in the world that can impose dangerous consequences on human beings. It is caused by Trichomonas vaginalis. Although, the disease has certain treatment methods but the emergence of drug resistance has emphasized the need for new therapeutic approaches. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Carum copticum (C. copticum) and ferula asafetida (F. asafetida) against Trichomonas vaginalis.
Material and We prepared hydroalcoholic extracts of F. asafetida and the C. copticum. Then, the concentrations of 100, 200, 400 and 800µg/ml of the extracts were used against the T. vaginalis at the exposure times of 30, 60, 120 and 180 min. Anti-parasitic effects of the extracts at every dose and also the positive and negative controls were studied. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS 18 software.
The results showed that different concentrations of both plant extracts had anti-trichomonas effect, although the effect of the F. asafetida extract was more remarkable. We also found that the anti-parasitic effect of the extracts increased by increasing the exposure time and also concentration. At the higher concentrations of F. asafetida extract (concentrations of 200, 400 and 800 µg/ml) and at the more prolonged exposure times (120 and 180 min), the anti-trichomonas effect of F. asafetida was similar to that of metronidazole.
The anti-trichomonas effects of the hydroalcoholic extract of F. asafetida was higher than that of C. copticum. Complementary studies such as gas chromatography and spectophotometery can help to identify the effective ingredient of these plants which may result in the introduction of F. asafetida as a suitable alternative for metronidazole.