Fig 6. Effect of silymarin alone and as adjunct to second line antibiotics in mice infected with a drug-resistant M. tuberculosis strain.

A) Groups of mice were treated after 60 days of infection with silymarin (gray bars), vehicle (control, black bars), the second line antibiotics moxifloxacin, ethionamide and pyrazinamide (white bars), silymarin plus antibiotics (hatched bars), half of the recommended doses of second line antibiotics (dotted bars) or with silymarin plus half the recommended doses of antibiotics (stippled bars). Mice were sacrificed, and lungs (n = 4 per time point/group) were used for the determination of mycobacterial loads by colony forming units (CFUs). B). Percentage of the pneumonic area determined at 30 and 60 days of treatment. Representative low power micrographs at 60 days posttreatment. C). Expression of protective cytokines determined by RT-PCR. Asterisks represent statistical significance (p<0.05).