Improvements of cognitive functions in mice heavily infected by Angiostrongylus cantonensis after treatment with albendazole, dexamethasone, or co-therapy

Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the causative agent of human eosinophilic meningitis and eosinophilic meningoencepalitis, has been reported to cause cognitive impairments in the host. To determine whether drug treatment improves the cognitive functions, BALB/c mice in-fected with 50 third-stage larvae were treated with albendazole, dexamethasone, or co -therapy since day 7 or 14 post-infection for one or two weeks. Abilities of spatial memory and learning of these animals were assessed with the Morris water maze.Our results showed that body weight was significant higher then infected group in the alben-dazole and combined therapy groups. Significantly lower worm recovery rates were found in mice treated with the same groups. The mice treated with dexamethasone since day 7 for 14 day had significant longer time in the remaining groups were found in forced swimming test. The animals treated with albendazole and combined therapy since day 7 for 14 days was demonstrated to have significantly shorter latencies to the platform in learning memory on day 3 and 4. Mice in these two groups were demonstrated to have significantly higher sores in spatial memory tests. These results indicate that treatment with albendazole or combined therapy may be more efficient in preventing brain damages and depression as well as preser-ving their capabilities in learning and memory. Therefore, administration of albendazole alone or combined with dexamethasone should have higher efficacies than dexamethasone alone in treatment of BALB/c mice infected with a heavy dose of 50 third-stage larvae of A. cantonen-sis.Copyright 2022, Taiwan Society of Microbiology. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study found that treatment with albendazole or combined therapy after infection with third-stage larvae of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in BALB/c mice was more effective in preventing brain damage and depression, as well as preserving learning and memory abilities.