Anticoccidial efficacy of Canary rue (Ruta pinnata) extracts against the caprine apicomplexan Eimeria ninakohlyakimovae

Corrected Proof Adassa M López María C Muñoz José M Molina Carlos Hermosilla Anja Taubert Rafael Zárate Inna Hildebrandt Grant McNaughton-Smith José L Eiroa Antonio Ruiz Journal of Animal Science, sky389, https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/sky389 Published: 09 November 2018 Article history Abstract Continuous use of anticoccidial treatments against Eimeria infections has resulted in the development of drug resistance. This study aimed to evaluate the anticoccidial efficacy of a methanolic extract derived from the endemic Canary rue (Ruta pinnata) plant of the Canary Islands, Spain, against Eimeria ninakohlyakimovae using in vitro assays. Freshly unsporulated oocysts were exposed to different concentrations of R. pinnata extract and thereafter evaluated for sporulation inhibition. Additionally, anticoccidial activity was examined by testing the viability of the E. ninakohlyakimovae sporozoites and their ability to infect bovine colonic epithelial cells after incubation with different concentrations of R. pinnata plant extract. The inhibition of oocyst sporulation by the extract was both time and concentration dependent, with certain combinations affording the same levels of sporulation inhibition as formaldehyde used as positive control (P < 0.001). Moreover, concentrations >0.1 mg/mL also affected not only the viability of the sporozoites but also their cell invasion capacity (P < 0.001). Altogether, these results show that methanolic fruit extracts from R. pinnata have important anticoccidial activity against oocysts and sporozoites of Eimeria. The potential efficacy of the extracts against other animal/human parasites remains to be elucidated, and further studies are needed to better understand its mode of action against coccidian parasites. Issue Section: Animal Health and Well Being © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model) You do not currently have access to this article.