Study
Randomized clinical trial evaluating triazolopyridazine SLU-2633 as a treatment for gastric cryptosporidiosis in eastern indigo snakes (Drymarchon couperi).
This was not a curcumin trial: 10 infected eastern indigo snakes received SLU-2633, with an 88% reduction in parasite DNA that was not sustained.
Summary Can this experimental drug treat a parasite infection in snakes? Show / hide ↓
This was not a curcumin study. Researchers randomly assigned 10 infected eastern indigo snakes to receive either SLU-2633, an experimental drug, or a liquid control treatment. The drug reduced parasite DNA, genetic material from the infection, by 88% after treatment. The benefit was gone two months later. Results from mice were also reported, but they do not show that the drug or curcumin works in people.
What this means for you: You can ignore this study when deciding whether to take curcumin or another supplement. It was a small animal study with a short-lived effect and provides no evidence of benefits for human health or longevity.
weak evidenceCurcumin appears in this abstract only among treatments that had previously failed to eliminate Cryptosporidium serpentis in eastern indigo snakes. The intervention tested here was SLU-2633, a triazolopyridazine analogue, not curcumin. Ten naturally infected eastern indigo snakes were randomly divided into two groups of five. The active group received SLU-2633 at 50 mg/kg once daily for four days and then twice weekly for six weeks. The control group received diluent on the same schedule. SLU-2633 lowered C. serpentis DNA relative to control three weeks after the first dose (p=0.047), and the difference remained one month after treatment stopped (p=0.018). Two months after stopping treatment, the groups no longer differed (p=0.27). At this regimen, the compound reduced overall parasite DNA burden by 88%. Mouse findings are also described, including a 99% burden reduction after 50 mg/kg twice daily for four days, but they cannot establish effects in people. This animal infection experiment provides no evidence that curcumin benefits human health, ageing, or longevity.
SLU-2633 reduced C. serpentis DNA burden by 88% and may require an optimised dosing regimen or formulation to eliminate infection in eastern indigo snakes.
The intervention was SLU-2633, not curcumin, and the study involved only 10 snakes. The parasite-DNA difference disappeared two months after treatment cessation.
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1 encyclopedia entries reference this study.