Trehalose - 6- phosphate-potent anti-onchocerciatic agent

Abstract

Onchocerciasis is a disease that engages the attention of most researchers. Presently, there is not an ideal onchocerciatic agent, hence the search must continues. Consequently a, a - trehalose - 6- phosphate was synthesized and assessed for onchocerciatic activity against O volvulus; using diethylcarbamazine citrate as the control drug. Results from this study showed that a, a – trehalose 6-phosphate is a glucose analogue with effective micro and macro-filaricidal agent, better than that of the control drug, the inhibitory action of this compound on enzyme trchalase is a postulate for the mechanism of action of trehalose-6-phosphate. The structure activity relationship of this new compound is fully discussed. This study postulates that this compound could be used to eradicate onchocerciasis both in man and animals.