Comparative effect of mebendazole, albendazole, tribendimidine, and praziquantel in treatment of rats infected with Clonorchis sinensis

The aim of the study is to understand the anti-Clonorchis sinensis properties of mebendazole and albendazole, and compare to praziquantel and tribendimidine. Two hundred and thirty rats were divided into five batches for experimental treatment. In four batches, each rat was infected orally with 50 or 100 C. sinensis metacercariae. Twenty-eight to 46 days post-infection, groups of rats were treated orally with single doses of mebendazole, albendazole, praziquantel, tribendimidine, or multiple daily doses of albendazole. While in the remaining batch, mebendazole or praziquantel was administered to groups of rats infected each with 50 metacercariae for 7 or 14 days. In each batch of test, untreated but infected rats served as control. All rats were euthanized 2–4 weeks post-drug administration for assessment of efficacy. In the first batch of test, rats treated with mebendazole or tribendimidine at single doses of 150, 75, and 37.5 mg/kg resulted in worm burden reductions of 99.0%, 94.0%, and 73.1%, or 98.0%, 80.6%, and 60.4%, respectively. When rats were treated with albendazole at the same dose levels, no or poor effect was seen. In the second batch of test, promising effect against adult C. sinensis in rats treated with mebendazole or tribendimidine at single doses of 100 and 50 mg/kg were also observed, but under the single dose of 25 mg/kg, only tribendimidine still remained the effect. In the third batch of test, the aforementioned three single dose levels of mebendazole, albendazole and praziquantel were applied. Again, mebendazole exhibited higher effect and albendazole exhibited no or poor effect. While praziquantel, administered at a higher dose of 300 mg/kg, also showed promising effect. In the fourth batch of test, oral administration of albendazole at a daily dose of 150 or 100 mg/kg for 2 or 3 days resulted in moderate or higher efficacy with worm burden reductions of 79.2% and 91.9%, respectively. In the fifth batch of test, single mebendazole doses of 150 or 75 mg/kg exhibited promising effect against 14-day-old C. sinensis in rats with worm burden reductions of 95.3% and 86.4%, respectively, but mebendazole was short of the effect against 7-day-old worms. Under the same dose level, praziquantel possessed an effect against both 7- and 14-day-old juvenile C. sinensis. The results confirm that in infected rats, mebendazole administered orally at a single dose of 150 mg/kg exhibits potential effect against juvenile (14-day-old) and adult C. sinensis. No or less effect is obtained from albendazole under the same dose levels, but extension of treatment course may enhance the effect of albendazole against this species of fluke. The single effective dose ranges of mebendazole and tribendimidine against C. sinensis in rats are similar with a broad window, while the window for praziquantel is narrow.