Doxycycline levels and anti-Wolbachia antibodies in sera from dogs experimentally infected with Dirofilaria immitis and treated with a combination of ivermectin/doxycycline.

Vet Parasitol. April 2015;209(3-4):281-4.

A Menozzi¹, S Bertini², L Turin³, P Serventi⁴, L Kramer⁵, C Bazzocchi⁶

¹ Dip Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, Università di Parma, via del Taglio 10, 43126 Parma, Italy.; ² Dip Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, Università di Parma, via del Taglio 10, 43126 Parma, Italy.; ³ Dip di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy.; ⁴ Dip Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, Università di Parma, via del Taglio 10, 43126 Parma, Italy.; ⁵ Dip Scienze Medico-Veterinarie, Università di Parma, via del Taglio 10, 43126 Parma, Italy. Electronic address: kramerlh@unipr.it.; ⁶ Dip di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy.

Abstract

Sera from Dirofilaria immitis-experimentally infected dogs treated with a combination of ivermectin/doxycycline were analysed for doxycycline levels by HPLC and anti-Wolbachia Surface Protein (rWSP) antibodies by ELISA and compared with sera from dogs treated with doxycycline alone. Results show that doxycycline levels were not statistically different between the two groups. Circulating anti-WSP antibody titres were markedly lower in both treatment groups when compared to control D. immitis infected dogs, indicating that doxycycline is able to reduce Wolbachia and prevent the immune response against the bacteria. The combination treatment protocol has been shown to be highly adulticidal and further studies are needed to better understand the interaction between doxycycline and ivermectin in D. immitis infected dogs.

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