ACTIVITY OF ALBENDAZOLE AGAINST ENCEPHALITOZOON-CUNICULI IN-VITRO

Encephalitozoon cuniculi grown in vitro in MDCK cells was exposed to albendazole for 7 and 14 days. In the presence of 4.2 mug/ml and 2.1 mug/ml albendazole, parasite replication was inhibited. Nuclear and cytoplasmic division was prevented but growth continued leading to malformed, giant meronts and sporonts mostly lying free in the parasitophorous vacuoles. In many of these stages bundles of 35 nm tubules ran a straight course through the cytoplasm. They were thought to represent an abnormality due to the drug, in the mechanism for depositing the surface coat of the sporont. Disorganised spores were also present. Albendazole acts by preventing the assembly of microtubules, in this case preventing the formation of the intranuclear spindle, the only known site of microtubule formation in microsporidia.