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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, September 1999, p. 2240-2244, Vol. 43, No. 9
Toxoplasmosis Research Laboratory, Institute
for Medical Research, Belgrade, Yugoslavia,1
and Service de Parasitologie-Mycologie, Hôpital
Cochin, Paris, France2
Received 8 March 1999/Returned for modification 3 June
1999/Accepted 14 July 1999
The effect of clindamycin (CLI) combined with autovaquone (ATO) was
examined in a murine model of acute toxoplasmosis. Swiss Webster mice
intraperitoneally infected with 102 or 104
tachyzoites of the RH strain of Toxoplasma
gondii were perorally treated with either drug alone (for ATO, 5, 25, 50, or 100 mg/kg of body weight/day; for CLI, 25, 50, or
400 mg/kg/day) or both combined (for ATO plus CLI, respectively, 5 plus
25, 25 plus 25, 25 plus 50, 50 plus 50, or 100 plus 400 mg/kg/day)
starting with day 1 for 14 days. Survival was monitored during 7 weeks.
Residual infection was assessed by a bioassay of representative 4-week survivors and by parasite DNA detection by PCR for
representative 7-week survivors. An effect of treatment was shown in
all treatment groups compared to untreated control mice
(P = 0.0000). Among mice infected with 102
parasites, ATO and CLI at any dose combination protected significantly more animals than ATO alone (P = 0.0000),
but compared to CLI alone, given its good effect, the combined
drugs were no more effective (P > 0.05). For
mice infected with 104 parasites, the drugs
combined at the lowest and highest doses (5 plus 25 and 100 plus
400 mg/kg/day) were, similarly, more effective than ATO
alone (P = 0.035 and 0.000, respectively) but not than CLI alone (P > 0.05). However, treatment with ATO
plus CLI at 25 plus 25, 25 plus 50, and 50 plus 50 mg/kg/day protected
20, 33, and 78% of mice, respectively, compared to virtually no
survivals among those treated with either drug alone
(P < 0.0005), thus demonstrating a significant
synergistic effect of ATO and CLI against T. gondii. Furthermore, the dose of ATO at a given dose of CLI
was shown to be critical to the effect. Moreover, the absence of
residual infection in some survivors shows the potential of this drug
combination to eliminate the parasite.
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Synergistic Effect of Clindamycin and Atovaquone in
Acute Murine Toxoplasmosis
-Djakovi
,1,*
,1
,1 and
1
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Toxoplasmosis
Research Laboratory, Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Suboti
a
4, P.O. Box 102, 11129 Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Phone: 381 (11) 685788. Fax: 381 (11) 643691. E-mail: olgicadj{at}imi.bg.ac.yu.
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