The curative activity of thioridazine on mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of thioridazine (TZ) at different dose levels on mice that had been infected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with a high dose of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis ATCC H37Rv strain. Subjects and Methods: Groups of five female BALB/C mice were infected i.p. with 10⁶ colony forming units/mL. After thirty days, treatment with TZ was initiated except for the control group. Mice were treated with TZ at equivalent concentrations to that used in the humans (1200 mg/day), ranging from 0.05 to 0.5 mg/day. Results: The results demonstrated that a daily dose of 0.5 mg/day of TZ reduced the number of colony forming units retrieved from the lungs of infected mice within one month. Conclusion: By the end of 300 days of therapy, although mycobacteria were still retained their presence, in comparison to that of the control was 8 orders of magnitude lower.