efficacy of pistacia khinjuk fruits on viability of hydatid cyst protoscoleces and its acute toxicity in mice model

background: this investigation aimed to evaluate the in vitro scolicidal effects of pistacia khinjuk methanolic extract against protoscoleces of hydatid cysts and its acute toxicity in mice nmri model. methods: protoscoleces were aseptically extracted from sheep livers having hydatid cysts. various concentrations of the essential oil (12.5- 100 mg/ml) were used for 10 to 60 min. viability of protoscoleces was confirmed using eosin exclusion test (0.1% eosin staining). twenty-four male nmri mice were used to assess the acute toxicity of p. khinjuk. results : p. khinjuk extract at the concentrations of 100 mg/ml after 10 min of exposure killed 100% of protoscoleces. similarly, the mean of mortality rate of protoscoleces after 20 min of exposure to the concentration of 50 mg/ml was 100%. the ld 50 of the intraperitoneal injection of the p. khinjuk methanolic extract was 2.8 g/kg and the maximum non-fatal dose was 1.7 g/kg. conclusion : the findings demonstrated effective scolicidal effects of p. khinjuk extract with no considerable toxicity that might be a natural source for the producing of new scolicidal agent.