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In Vitro Inhibitory Effects and Bioinformatic Analysis of Norfloxacin and Ofloxacin on Piroplasm

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Abstract

Purpose

The in vitro inhibitory effect of two fluroquinolone antibiotics, norfloxacin and ofloxacin, was evaluated in this study on the growth of several Babesia and Theileria parasites with highlighting the bioinformatic analysis for both drugs with the commonly used antibabesial drug, diminazene aceturate (DA), and the recently identified antibabesial drugs, luteolin, and pyronaridine tetraphosphate (PYR).

Methods

The antipiroplasm efficacy of screened fluroquinolones in vitro and in vivo was assessed using a fluorescence-based SYBR Green I assay. Using atom Pair signatures, we investigated the structural similarity between fluroquinolones and the antibabesial drugs.

Results

Both fluroquinolones significantly inhibited (P < 0.05) the in vitro growths of Babesia bovis (B. bovis), B. bigemina, B. caballi, and Theileria equi (T. equi) in a dose-dependent manner. The best inhibitory effect for both drugs was observed on the growth of T. equi. Atom Pair fingerprints (APfp) results and AP Tanimoto values revealed that both fluroquinolones, norfloxacin with luteolin, and ofloxacin with PYR, showed the maximum structural similarity (MSS). Two drug interactions findings confirmed the synergetic interaction between these combination therapies against the in vitro growth of B. bovis and T. equi.

Conclusion

This study helped in discovery novel potent antibabesial combination therapies consist of norfloxacin/ofloxacin, norfloxacin/luteolin, and ofloxacin/PYR.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Prof. Naoaki Yokoyama, National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-Cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan, for his scientific support and discussion.

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. Mohamed Abdo Rizk was supported by a research grant fellowship for young scientists from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (ID no. P18091).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Mohamed Abdo Rizk

  2. National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-Cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan

    Mohamed Abdo Rizk, Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed & Ikuo Igarashi

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry of Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt

    Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed

Authors
  1. Mohamed Abdo Rizk
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Contributions

MAR and II contributed to conceptualization, investigation, and resources. MAR and SAESES contributed to data curation and formal analysis, software, writing – original draft, and methodolog. II contributed to funding acquisition, project administration, and supervision. SAESES and II contributed to validation. All authors contributed to visualization and writing – review & editing.

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Correspondence to Mohamed Abdo Rizk, Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed or Ikuo Igarashi.

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Rizk, M.A., El-Sayed, S.A.ES. & Igarashi, I. In Vitro Inhibitory Effects and Bioinformatic Analysis of Norfloxacin and Ofloxacin on Piroplasm. Acta Parasit. 68, 213–222 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-022-00648-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-022-00648-9

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