Studies on a New Ascaricidal Substance from a Streptomycete

Abstract

So far studied anthelmintics may be classified for convenience into two groups, e. g., drugs applied against the adult worms and those against the ova of ascaris. The anthelmintics for the treatment of ascariasis, chiefly applied against the adult worms are the chemicals, such as santonin, kainic acid, chenopodium oil¹⁾, hexylresorcin^2,3), piperazin⁴⁾, 1 brom-β-naphthol⁵⁾, etc., and enzym substancir-i such as Nematolyt⁶⁾, Ficin^7,8). On the other hand, the drugs used to kill the ova are mustard-oil^13,14) and D. D. (C₃H₆Cl₂+C₃H₄Cl₂)^14,15,16), etc.

In the course of the screening program for anthelmintics from streptomycetes the ova of hog ascaris were employed as a test-organism and the culture filtrate of a streptomycete was found to inhibit the development of the ova and to kill the adult worms. Using this culture-filtrate the fundamental studies for the screening of anthelmintics were carried out and a new ascaricidal substance, named Ascaricidin¹⁷⁾ has been isolated. This paper deals with the fundamental studies about screening procedures of ascaricidal substances and the comparative studies of ascaricidin and the other known anthelmintics upon the adult worms and the ova of hog ascaris in vitro.