Large-scale drug screening against Babesia divergens parasite using a fluorescence-based high-throughput screening assay

- We established a fluorescence assay for mass drug screening in vitro.
- 5% HCT was the best condition for mass drug screening against B. divergens..
- Actinonin was the most effective drug against the in vitro growth of B. divergens.

The validation of a fluorescence-based high-throughput screening (HTS) assay for determining the efficacies of large chemical libraries against Babesia divergens (bovine strain) in in vitro cultures was evaluated in this study. Hematocrits (HCTs) of 2.5%, 5%, and 10% were used for the in vitro culture at 1% parasitemia without daily replacement of the medium. Linearity and HTS assay results revealed that the best HCTs were 5% and 10%. The obtained IC50 values of diminazene aceturate, either by fluorescence-based HTS assay with and without daily replacement of medium or by fluorescence- and microscopy-based methods, did not differ significantly at 5% HCT. Actinonin and chloroquine diphosphate were the most effective drugs against the in vitro growth of B. divergens, followed by pyronaridine tetraphosphate- and luteolin-treated cultures. On contrary, tetracycline hydrochloride and (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate from green tea exhibited poor activity as compared with diminazene aceturate (positive control drug). The data indicated that 5% HCT without daily replacement of the culture medium mixed with bovine serum in vitro using a fluorescence-based HTS assay creates the best conditions for large-scale drug screening against B. divergens that infect cattle.