Oral administration of encapsulated bovine lactoferrin protein nanocapsules against intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii
Authors: Rakesh Sehgal
Namrata Anand
Rakesh Kumar Vasishta
Mohan Lal Dubey
Jagat Rakesh Kanwar
Rupinder Kaur Kanwar
Journal: International Journal of Nanomedicine (2015)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii; ceramic nanocapsules and reactive oxygen species; cytokines; immunoreactivity; nanocapsules
Affiliations: Department of Medical Parasitology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India., Nanomedicine-Laboratory of Immunology and Molecular Biomedical Research, School of Medicine, Centre for Molecular and Medical Research, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia., Department of Histopathology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.

Abstract:  Toxoplasma gondii is a deadly intracellular parasite known to reside in every nucleated cell and known to cause severe complications in immunocompromised host. Standard drugs are cost effective and cause side effects, therefore, there is a necessity for a new drug molecule with immunomodulatory potential. Lactoferrin (Lf) is a natural milk protein, which has shown antimicrobial properties in its nanoformulation using alginate chitosan calcium phosphate bovine lactoferrin nanocapsules (AEC-CCo-CP-bLf-NCs). The present study was aimed to analyze and compare the effect of bovine Lf (bLf) in its native as well as nanoformulation (AEC-CCo-CP-bLf-NC) against coccidian parasite T. gondii. In vitro analysis has shown a significant increase in nitric oxide production and low parasitemia in in vitro cell culture model. In vivo BALB/c mice model have been used to develop human toxoplasmosis model. After treatment with NCs it has substantially increased the bioavailability of the protein and showed comparatively increased levels of reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide production, and Th1 cytokine which helped in parasite clearance. The mechanism of action of NCs has been clarified by immunoreactivity analysis, which showed accumulation of Lf in macrophages of various visceral organs, which is the site of parasite multiplication. Effect of NCs has significantly decreased (P&lt;0.05) the parasite load in various organs and helped survival of mice till day 25 postinfection. Fe metabolism inside the mice has been found to be maintained even after administration of mono form of Lf, this indicates novelty of Lf protein. From the present study we concluded that nanoformulation did not reduce the therapeutic potential of Lf protein; however, nanoformulation has enhanced the stability of the protein and shown anti-toxoplasmal activity. Our study presents for the first time nanoformulation of Lf protein against Toxoplasma, which has advantages over the standard drug therapy without any side effects. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Hey, has anyone noticed that the 2 left most panels on Figure 2B are the same? The lower one is a lower magnification of the top one - see the images in the green boxes. They are both controls but one is from day 10 and the other day 15 so clearly something isn t right here. ![file] , 
 Anand N, Sehgal R, Kanwar R, Dubey M, Vasishta RK, Kanwar J. Int J Nanomedicine. 2015;10:6355u2013 6369. The authors have advised due to an error that occurred inadvertently at the time of figure assembly the incorrect images were selected by the first author for Figure 2 on page 6361. The correct Figure 2 is shown below. The authors apologize for this error and advise it does not affect the results and conclusions of the paper. ![file] ,