Anti-Toxoplasma Effects of Dapsone Alone and Combined with Pyrimethamine

The efficacy of dapsone alone or combined with pyrimethamine against Toxoplasma gondii was investigated experimentally. For in vitro studies, a sensitive immunoassay was used for assessment of Toxoplasma growth in tissue cultures; dapsone was found to have a significant inhibitory effect at a concentration of 0.5 micrograms/ml in the cultures, and the 50% inhibitory concentration was estimated to be 0.55 micrograms/ml. When pyrimethamine and dapsone were combined, an important synergistic effect which was associated with morphological alterations of the parasites was observed. In vivo studies were performed in a murine model of acute toxoplasmosis in which a tissue culture method was used to estimate the parasite burden in the blood, lungs, and brains of infected mice. Dapsone alone, which was administered at 100 mg/kg/day for 10 days from day 1 after infection, was unable to prevent parasite dissemination and only delayed the time to death of treated mice compared with the time of death of untreated controls. When dapsone and pyrimethamine (18.5 mg/kg/day) were administered in combination from day 4 after infection, parasites were cleared from blood and organs within 6 days, but relapses were observed 15 days after the cessation of therapy. When treatment was started at day 1 after infection, 100% of mice survived and relapses were not observed, suggesting a good efficacy of this combination for preventive therapy.