Toxoplasmosis is an important cause of foodborne, inflammatory, as well as congenital abnormalities. There is an urgent need for safe and effective therapies to eliminate or treat this cosmopolitan infectious disease. A medicinal herbal plant, Meliae fructus, has been used to soothe the liver and kills worms in Chinese medicine. In this study, Meliae fructus ethanol extract was examined and screened for its anti-T. gondii activity. For anti-T. gondii activity screening, in vitro study of Meliae fructus extract using tachyzoit of T. gondii RH strain-infected HeLa cells was performed. Further, in vivo anti-T. gondii study using a mouse infection model was conducted. Safety of herbal compounds was evaluated in SD rats by treatment with Meliae fructus extract for 28 days. As a result, selectivity of Meliae fructus ethanol extract was 5.85, which was higher than sulfadiazine selectivity (2.06). We also performed an in vivo study to evaluate the anti-T. gondii activity of Meliae fructus extract in a mouse model. The inhibition rate of Meliae fructus extract was as high as that of sulfadiazine. These results demonstrate that Meliae fructus can successfully cure T. gondii infection and could be a promising native herb treatment for prevention of T. gondii infection.

Introduction
 Materials and Methods
  천련자 에탄올 추출물 조제
  톡소포자충의 유지
  톡소포자충 선택성(selectivity) 측정
  마우스 감염 모델에서의 항톡소포자충 활성 평가
  천련자 추출물의 독성 평가 실험
 Results
  항톡소포자충 선택성(selectivity) 측정 결과
  마우스 감염 모델에서의 항톡소포자충 활성 평가
  천련자 추출물에 의한 독성 평가 결과
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 ORCID
 References

• Hak-Yong Lee(Huvet Co. Ltd)
• Okjin Kim(Center for Animal Resource Development Research, Wonkwang University, Iksan 570-749, Korea)