The Immunomodulatory Effect of Matcha Green Tea, Wheat Germ Oil and N-acetyl-L-cysteine in Experimentally Induced Trichinosis

Background: Trichinosis is a food-borne zoonotic disease resulted from ingestion of pork meat having the infective 1st stage larvae of Trichinella spiralis (T.spiralis).The traditional drugs used for treatment of trichinosis have many adverse side effects as well as a limited bioavailability. In the current study, the therapeutic effects of matcha green tea, wheat germ oil and N-acetyl-L-cystiene against experimental intestinal trichinosis were evaluated either alone or combined with albendazole. Methods: Nine groups of 45 mice were created. Each group consists of five mice: (GI): normal control, (GII): infected control, (GIII): infected and then treated by albendazole, (GIV): infected then received matcha green tea . (GV) infected then treated with albendazole combined with matcha green tea, (GVI): received matcha green tea 2 weeks then infected by T.spiralis , (GVII): infected then received wheat germ oil, (GVIII):infected then received N-acetyl-Lcystiene and (GIX):infected then given a combination of albendazole, wheat germ oil and N-acetyl-L-cystiene. The average number of adult worms of T.spiralis in the intestine was determined for the parasitological assessment, serum IL-4 level was also assessed biochemically in all groups. Results: G IX, (received treatment with a combination of albendazole and N-acetyl-L-cysteine and wheat germ oil), then GV (received treatment with a combination of albendazole and matcha green tea) and GIII( treated with albendazole), showed highly significant decreases in mean adult count with efficacies of 93%, 91%, and 86%, respectively. The biochemical results supported this findings.Conclusion: the tested drugs can be combined with albendazole as synergistic agents in the trichinosis treatment.