Eighty healthy adult albino rats of both sexes were used in two experiments to study the effect of Manganese
chloride supplementation on the severity of
Trypanosoma brucei brucei
and
Trypanasoma
congolonse
infections. In each
experiment, forty rats were divided into four groups of 10 rats each, namely; A, unsupplemented control; B, supplemented
control; C, infected supplemented and D, infected unsupplemented. Aqueous solution (10%) of MnCl
2 was administered daily
using stomach tube to each rat at 100mg/kg in groups B and C from 10 days before infection and during the course of the
infection. Each rat in groups C and D was infected by intraperitoneal injection of 1 x 10
6 trypanosomes (
T. b. brucei or
T.
congolense) in phosphate buffered saline diluted donor blood. The prepatent periods were shorter (P < 0.05) in
T. brucei than
T. congolense infections and shorter (P < 0.05) in infected unsupplemented than infected supplemented rats. The infected
unsupplemented groups had higher (P<0.05) parasitaemia, more severe anaemia (P<0.05) and hepatic and renal damage than
infected supplemented groups. Therefore, oral Manganese chloride supplementation in rats appeared to reduce the severity of
trypanosome infections by delaying the onset of parasitaemia, reducing the levels of parasitaemia and accompanying anaemia
and organ damage.
