Anti-giardial therapeutic potential of dichloromethane extracts of Zingiber officinale and Curcuma longa in vitro and in vivo.

Giardiosis is one of the common parasitic diarrhoea in humans, especially in children, worldwide. Many drugs are used for its treatment, but there is evidence of drug resistance, insufficient efficacy and unpleasant side effects. Natural products are good candidates for discovering more effective anti-giardial compounds. This study evaluated the activity of extracts of Zingiber officinale (ginger) and Curcuma longa (curcumin) against Giardia lamblia in vitro and in vivo. Giardia cyst suspension was prepared from children faecal specimens. For the in vitro experiment, 1, 10 and 50 mg⁄mL dichloromethane extracts of ginger and curcumin separately were incubated with Giardia cysts for 5, 10, 30 and 60 min. The viability was distinguished by 0.1 % eosin and a haemocytometer. For the in vivo experiments, Balb/c mice were infected with Giardia cyst suspension containing 10,000 cysts/mL. Infected mice were administered 10 and 20 mg kg(-1) day(-1) ginger and curcumin extracts separately for 7 days post-infection. The effectiveness of the extracts was evaluated by faecal cyst and intestinal trophozoite counts and histopathological examination of the small intestine. In vitro ginger extract had a higher significant effect on cyst viability than curcumin, in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In vivo ginger (more effective) and curcumin extracts significantly treated infected mice, and this was evidenced by the faecal cyst and intestinal trophozoite counts reduction, in addition to evident improvement of intestinal mucosal damages induced by Giardia infection. Z. officinale and C. longa extracts may represent effective and natural therapeutic alternatives with low side effects and without drug resistance in the treatment of giardiosis.