Potentialization of isoniazide by DIMETHYLSUPHOXIDE (DMSO) in the treatment of hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), experimentally infected with Mycobacterium bovis (AN5).

Abstract

Zoonotic tuberculosis is a worldwide disease with a high importance to public health, caused by bacterium Mycobacterium bovis. Its resistance to some drugs is very discussed based in the treatment and diagnosis of M.bovis. Thus, we aimed to verify the potentiality effect of dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) compared to isoniazide. Three groups of 20 hamsters each one were experimentally inoculated with a M.bovis strain: G1, control; G2, treated with isoniazide, during 30 days after the infection; G3, with isoniazide associated with DMSO, for the same period. All groups were sacrificed at the final of the experiment. At the necropsy, liver, lung, spleen and kidney of all the animals were collected for histopathological test, to evaluate the intensity of the lesions; morphometric analysis of granulomes; and microbiological tests to isolate and quantification of the agent. The histopathological results revealed lower intensity of the lesions, and lower number of granulomes and of the occupied area for these one in liver and lung of animals of G3 than other groups. Microbiological test revealed a decrease in the quantity of the agent in studied organs, in G3, with statistical difference, compared to G2. Thus, the results confirmed the efficacy of DMSO to enhance the therapeutic action of isoniazide against a M.bovis pathogenic strain, probably by the increasing of its penetration into tuberculous lesions and by the complex cellular wall of the agent, however, not enough to the completely elimination of the infection.