ACTIVITY OF ALBENDAZOLE AGAINST ENCEPHALITOZOON-CUNICULI IN-VITRO

Encephalitozoon cuniculi grown in vitro in MDCK cells was exposed to a lbendazole for 7 and 14 days. In the presence of 4.2 mug/ml and 2.1 mu g/ml albendazole, parasite replication was inhibited. Nuclear and cyto plasmic division was prevented but growth continued leading to malform ed, giant meronts and sporonts mostly lying free in the parasitophorou s vacuoles. In many of these stages bundles of 35 nm tubules ran a str aight course through the cytoplasm. They were thought to represent an abnormality due to the drug, in the mechanism for depositing the surfa ce coat of the sporont. Disorganised spores were also present. Albenda zole acts by preventing the assembly of microtubules, in this case pre venting the formation of the intranuclear spindle, the only known site of microtubule formation in microsporidia.