Homeopathy 2016; 105(02): 186-193
DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2015.09.005
Original Paper
Copyright © The Faculty of Homeopathy 2015

Highly diluted medication reduces tissue parasitism and inflammation in mice infected by Trypanosoma cruzi

Carina Ribeiro Lopes
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Gislaine Janaina Sanchez Falkowski
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Camila Fernanda Brustolin
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Paula Fernanda Massini
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Érika Cristina Ferreira
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Neide Martins Moreira
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Denise Lessa Aleixo
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Edilson Nobuyoshi Kaneshima
2   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Patologia geral, Maringá, PR, Brazil
,
Silvana Marques de Araújo
1   Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Departamento de Ciências Básicas da Saúde/Parasitologia, Maringá, PR, Brazil
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received06 October 2014
revised13 May 2015

accepted21 September 2015

Publication Date:
28 December 2017 (online)

Aim: To evaluate the effects of Kalium causticum, Conium maculatum, and Lycopodium clavatum 13cH in mice infected by Trypanosoma cruzi.

Materials and methods: In a blind, controlled, randomized study, 102 male Swiss mice, 8 weeks old, were inoculated with 1400 trypomastigotes of the Y strain of T. cruzi and distributed into the following groups: CI (treated with 7% hydroalcoholic solution), Ca (treated with Kalium causticum 13cH), Co (treated with Conium maculatum 13cH), and Ly (treated with Lycopodium clavatum 13cH). The treatments were performed 48 h before and 48, 96, and 144 h after infection. The medication was repertorized and prepared in 13cH, according to Brazilian Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia. The following parameters were evaluated: infectivity, prepatent period, parasitemia peak, total parasitemia, tissue tropism, inflammatory infiltrate, and survival. Statistical analysis was conduced considering 5% of significance.

Results: The prepatent period was greater in the Ly group than in the CI group (p = 0.02). The number of trypomastigotes on the 8th day after infection was lower in the Ca group than in the CI group (p < 0.05). Total parasitemia was significantly lower in the Ca, Co, and Ly groups than in the CI group. On the 12th day after infection, the Ca, Co, and Ly groups had fewer nests and amastigotes/nest in the heart than the CI group (p < 0.05). Decreases in the number of nests and amastigotes in the intestine were observed in the Ly group compared with the CI group (p < 0.05). In the liver (day 12), Ly significantly prevented the formation of inflammatory foci compared with the other groups. In skeletal muscle, Co and Ly decreased the formation of inflammatory foci compared with CI (p < 0.05). Ly afforded greater animal survival compared with CI, Ca, and Co (p < 0.05). The animals in the Co group died prematurely compared with the CI group (p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Ly with 13cH potency had significantly more benefits in the treatment of mice infected with T. cruzi, reducing the number of blood parasites, amastigote nests in tissue, and the number of amastigotes per nest and increasing animal survival.

 
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