alpha-Difluoromethylornithine: a promising lead for preventive chemotherapy for coccidiosis.

alpha-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO; RMI 71,782) given in drinking water in concentrations as low as 0.0625% inhibited infections of Eimeria tenella and minimized the development of lesions in chickens. It had approximately the same activity as a currently used anticoccidial drug, amprolium, and also had the advantage of being relatively nontoxic in chickens. Body weight gains were not reduced in chickens given 0.0635% DFMO or less for 14 days starting 8 days before they were inoculated with oocysts, but were reduced in chickens given drinking water containing 0.125 and 0.25% DFMO. The anticoccidial activity of DFMO was completely reversed by injection (intraabdominal) of putrescine hydrochloride (300 mg/kg of body weight/day), indicating that the drug may act by blocking putrescine biosynthesis. Inoculated chickens, in which coccidial lesion development was suppressed by DFMO, resisted subsequent challenge exposure with E tenella, as did nontreated infected control birds which had recovered from infection.