In vitro scolicidal activity of Thymus capitatus Hoff. et Link. essential oil on Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces

ABSTRACT

Cystic echinococcosis remains a serious public health problem worldwide. Surgery is considered as the first option of treatment. Various investigations were carried out to find a convenient scolicidal agent for reducing the risk of post-surgical recurrence of the disease but most of them are associated with adverse side effects. The present study aimed to evaluate the in vitro scolicidal activity of Thymus capitatus Hoff. et Link. essential oil against Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces. Three concentrations of essential oil (1, 2 and 3 mg/mL) were tested for 1 to 10 min on E. granulosus protosoleces and their viability was assessed by eosin staining test. The essential oil concentrated at 2 and 3 mg/mL killed 100% protoscoleces after 5 and 1 min, respectively. Furthermore, GC/MS and GC-FID analyzes indicated that carvacrol (82.4%) was the major component of the essential oil. The current investigation showed the potent scolicidal effect of T. capitatus essential oil in vitro.

KEYWORDS:

• Cystic echinococcosis
• Echinococcus granulosus
• essential oil
• Thymus capitatus
• scolicidal agents

Acknowledgments

We thank Imen Hizem-Attig for her assistance with the linguistic part of this paper.

Availability of data and materials

The data supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article. Raw data are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support for this study was provided by the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The funding source is not involved in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.