Changes in the activity of glutathione-S-transferase in muscles and sera from mice infected with Trichinella spiralis after treatment with albendazole and levamisole.

In this study, changes in GST activity before and after treatment with antiparasitic drugs were measured in muscles and sera from mice infected with Trichinella spiralis between the 2nd and 9th weeks post-infection (wpi). Levamisole and albendazole, two anthelmintics with a different mode of action, were used. An about twofold stimulation of GST activity in the 2nd wpi and in the later muscular phase (6-7 wpi) was observed in muscles from animals treated with albendazole. In addition, a statistically significant stimulation of GST activity was observed after levamisole treatment, however, only from the 2nd()to the 4th wpi. Neither drugs changed the GST activity in serum. These results suggest that both anthelmintics seem to increase the total activity of GST participating in oxygen free radical-based biochemical defence against Trichinella infection.