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Parasite Epidemiology and Control Nov 2021spp. are commonest opportunistic amoebae, which ubiquitous in various environmental resources. species are the causative agents of amoebic keratitis, granulomatous...
BACKGROUND
spp. are commonest opportunistic amoebae, which ubiquitous in various environmental resources. species are the causative agents of amoebic keratitis, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and i.e. in immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients. Moreover spp. can act as reservoir and transmission agent of bacterial pathogens. Due to this issue the aim of this study was to characterized spp. genotypes in dust and soil of hospital samples from Khomein of Iran.
METHODS
In a cross sectional study, a total of 100 soil and dust samples were collected from hospital environment of Khomein Iran, and analyzed for the presence of spp. based on phenotypic and molecular methods including PCR amplification and sequence analysis of 18SrRNA. A total of 5 isolates were sequenced, and different genotypes of isolates were detected via direct sequence analysis.
RESULTS
The results showed that 20% of samples (20/100) were positive for while only 5 cases were successfully cultured in NNM medium and were subjected to molecular assay. were the prevalent identified species that were belonged to T4 and T5 genotypes.
CONCLUSIONS
spp. are the most prevalent free living amoeba in the dust and soil of hospital environment. Moreover, due to the presence of potentially pathogenic T4 genotypes in our hospital, it is recommended that in health and hygienic programs elimination of FLA should be considered.
PubMed: 34584991
DOI: 10.1016/j.parepi.2021.e00224 -
International Journal For Parasitology.... Dec 2021Free-living amoebae of Acanthamoeba spp. are causative agents of human infections such as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) and Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). The...
Free-living amoebae of Acanthamoeba spp. are causative agents of human infections such as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) and Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). The exploration of innovative chemical entities from natural sources that induce intrinsic apoptotic pathway or a Programmed Cell Death (PCD) in Acanthamoeba protozoa is essential to develop new therapeutic strategies. In this work, the antiamoeboid activity of squamins C-F (1-4), four cyclooctapeptides isolated from Annona globiflora was tested in vitro against Acanthamoeba castellanii Neff, A. polyphaga, A. quina, and A. griffini, and a structure-activity relationship was also established. The most sensitive strain against all tested cyclooctapeptides was A. castellanii Neff being the R conformers of the S-oxo-methionine residue, squamins D (2) and F (4), the most active against the trophozoite stage. It is remarkable that all four peptides showed no cytotoxic effects against murine macrophages cell line J774A.1. The analysis of the mode of action of squamins C-F against A. castellanii indicate that these cyclopeptides induced the mechanisms of programmed cell death (PCD). All peptides trigger mitochondrial damages, significant inhibition of ATP production compared to the negative control, chromatin condensation and slight damages in membrane that affects its permeability despite it conserves integrity at the IC for 24 h. An increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed in all cases.
Topics: Acanthamoeba Keratitis; Acanthamoeba castellanii; Amebiasis; Animals; Annona; Humans; Mice; Trophozoites
PubMed: 34411895
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2021.08.003 -
Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2022is a ubiquitous opportunistic protozoan pathogen that is known to cause blinding keratitis and rare, but usually fatal, granulomatous encephalitis. The difficulty in...
is a ubiquitous opportunistic protozoan pathogen that is known to cause blinding keratitis and rare, but usually fatal, granulomatous encephalitis. The difficulty in treating infections and the toxicity issues of the current treatments emphasize the need to use alternative agents with amoebicidal activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antiamoebic activity of three third-generation statins-cerivastatin, pitavastatin and rosuvastatin-against both cysts and trophozoites of the following four strains of Neff, and . Furthermore, programmed cell death (PCD) induction traits were evaluated by measuring chromatin condensation, damages at the mitochondrial level, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the distribution of actin cytoskeleton fibers. Neff was the strain most sensitive to all the statins, where cerivastatin showed the lowest amoebicidal activity for both trophozoite and cyst forms (0.114 ± 0.050 and 0.704 ± 0.129 µM, respectively). All the statins were able to cause DNA condensation, collapse in the mitochondrial membrane potential and a reduction in ATP level production, and disorganization of the total actin fibers in the cytoskeleton of all the evaluated strains. Our results showed that the tested statins were able to induce PCD compatible events in the treated amoebae, including chromatin condensation, collapse in the mitochondrial potential and ATP levels, cytoskeleton disassembly and ROS generation.
PubMed: 35203882
DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics11020280 -
European Journal of Pharmaceutics and... Nov 2022Statins are effective sterol lowering agents with high amoebicidal activity. Nevertheless, due to their poor aqueous solubility, they remain underused especially in eye...
Statins are effective sterol lowering agents with high amoebicidal activity. Nevertheless, due to their poor aqueous solubility, they remain underused especially in eye drop formulation. The aim of the present study is to develop Pitavastatin loaded nanoparticles suitable for ophthalmic administration and designed for the management of Acanthamoeba Keratitis. These nanocarriers are aimed to solve both the ophthalmic route-associated problems and the limited aqueous drug solubility issues of Pitavastatin. Nanoparticles were obtained by a nanoprecipitation-solvent displacement method and their amoebicidal activity was evaluated against four strains of Acanthamoeba: A. castellanii Neff, A. polyphaga, A. griffini and A. quina. In Acanthamoeba polyphaga, the effect of the present nanoparticles was investigated with respect to the microtubule distribution and several programmed cell death features. Nanoparticles were able to eliminate all the tested strains and Acanthamoeba polyphaga was determined to be the most resistance strain. Nanoparticles induced chromatin condensation, autophagic vacuoles and mitochondria dysfunction.
Topics: Humans; Acanthamoeba Keratitis; Administration, Ophthalmic; Acanthamoeba; Amebicides; Cell Death; Autophagy; Nanoparticles
PubMed: 36162636
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2022.09.020 -
The Korean Journal of Parasitology Jun 1998Subgenus classification of Acanthamoeba remains uncertain. Twenty-three reference strains of Acanthamoeba including 18 (neo)type-strains were subjected for...
Subgenus classification of Acanthamoeba remains uncertain. Twenty-three reference strains of Acanthamoeba including 18 (neo)type-strains were subjected for classification at the subgenus level by riboprinting. PCR/RFLP analysis of 18S rRNA gene (rDNA). On the dendrogram reconstructed on the basis of riboprint analyses, two type-strains (A. astronyxis and A. tubiashi) of morphological group 1 diverged early from the other strains and were quite distinct from each other. Four type-strains of morphological group 3, A. culbertsoni, A. palestinensis, A. healyi were considered taxonomically valid, but A. pustulosa was regarded as an invalid synonym of A. palestinensis. Strains of morphological group 2 were classified into 6 subgroups. Among them, A. griffini which has an intron in its 18S rDNA was the most divergent from the remaining strains. Acanthamoeba castellanii Castellani, A. quina Vil3, A. lugdunensis L3a, A. polyphaga Jones, A. triangularis SH621, and A. castellanii Ma strains belonged to a subgroup, A. castellanii complex. However, A. quina and A. lugdunensis were regarded as synonyms of A. castellanii. The Chang strain could be regarded as A. hatchetti. Acanthamoeba mauritaniensis, A. divionensis, A. paradivionensis could be considered as synonyms of A. rhysodes. Neff strain was regarded as A. polyphaga rather than as A. castellanii. It is likely that riboprinting can be applied for rapid identification of Acanthamoeba isolated from the clinical specimens and environments.
Topics: Acanthamoeba; Animals; DNA, Protozoan; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; RNA, Protozoan; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S
PubMed: 9637824
DOI: 10.3347/kjp.1998.36.2.69 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Mar 2019On its own, rosmarinic acid possesses multiple biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, cardioprotective and antitumor properties, and these are...
On its own, rosmarinic acid possesses multiple biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, cardioprotective and antitumor properties, and these are the consequence of its ROS scavenging and inhibitory effect on inflammation. In this study, two quaternary phosphonium salts of rosmarinic acid were prepared for the purpose of increasing its penetration into biological systems with the aim of improving its antimicrobial, antifungal, antiprotozoal and antitumor activity. The synthetized molecules, the triphenylphosphonium and tricyclohexylphosphonium salts of rosmarinic acid, exhibited significantly stronger inhibitory effects on the growth of HCT116 cells with IC values of 7.28 or 8.13 μM in comparison to the initial substance, rosmarinic acid (>300 μM). For the synthesized derivatives, we detected a greater than three-fold increase of activity against and a greater than eight-fold increase of activity against in comparison to rosmarinic acid. Furthermore, we recorded significantly higher antimicrobial activity of the synthetized derivatives when compared to rosmarinic acid itself. Both synthetized quaternary phosphonium salts of rosmarinic acid appear to be promising antitumor and antimicrobial agents, as well as impressive molecules for further research.
Topics: Acanthamoeba; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Anti-Infective Agents; Antifungal Agents; Antiprotozoal Agents; Cinnamates; Depsides; HCT116 Cells; Humans; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Organophosphorus Compounds; Rosmarinic Acid
PubMed: 30893808
DOI: 10.3390/molecules24061078 -
The Korean Journal of Parasitology Sep 1999We investigated the value of mitochondrial small subunit rRNA gene (mt SSU rDNA) PCR-RFLP as a taxonomic tool for Acanthamoeba isolates with close inter-relationships....
We investigated the value of mitochondrial small subunit rRNA gene (mt SSU rDNA) PCR-RFLP as a taxonomic tool for Acanthamoeba isolates with close inter-relationships. Twenty-five isolates representing 20 species were included in the analysis. As in nuclear 18S rDNA analysis, two type strains (A. astronyxis and A. tubiashi) of morphological group 1 diverged earliest from the other strains, but the divergence between them was less than in 18S riboprinting. Acanthamoeba griffini of morphological group 2 branched between pathogenic (A. culbertsoni A-1 and A. healyi OC-3A) and nonpathogenic (A. palestinensis Reich, A. pustulosa GE-3a, A. royreba Oak Ridge, and A lenticulata PD2S) strains of morphological group 3. Among the remaining isolates of morphological group 2, the Chang strain had the identical mitochondrial riboprints as the type strain of A. hatchetti. AA2 and AA1, the type strains of A. divionensis and A. paradivionensis, respectively, had the identical riboprints as A. quina Vil3 and A. castellanii Ma. Although the branching orders of A. castellanii Neff, A. polyphaga P23, A. triangularis SH621, and A. lugdunensis L3a were different from those in 18S riboprinting analysis, the results obtained from this study generally coincided well with those from 18S riboprinting. Mitochondrial riboprinting may have an advantage over nuclear 18S rDNA riboprinting because the mt SSU rDNAs do not seem to have introns that are found in the 18S genes of Acanthamoeba and that distort phylogenetic analyses.
Topics: Acanthamoeba; Animals; DNA, Mitochondrial; DNA, Protozoan; DNA, Ribosomal; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
PubMed: 10507226
DOI: 10.3347/kjp.1999.37.3.181 -
International Journal of Molecular... Jan 2024Caffeic acid (CA) is one of the most abundant natural compounds present in plants and has a broad spectrum of beneficial pharmacological activities. However, in some...
Caffeic acid (CA) is one of the most abundant natural compounds present in plants and has a broad spectrum of beneficial pharmacological activities. However, in some cases, synthetic derivation of original molecules can expand their scope. This study focuses on the synthesis of caffeic acid phosphanium derivatives with the ambition of increasing their biological activities. Four caffeic acid phosphanium salts (CAPs) were synthesized and tested for their cytotoxic, antibacterial, antifungal, and amoebicidal activity in vitro, with the aim of identifying the best area for their medicinal use. CAPs exhibited significantly stronger cytotoxic activity against tested cell lines (HeLa, HCT116, MDA-MB-231 MCF-7, A2058, PANC-1, Jurkat) in comparison to caffeic acid. Focusing on Jurkat cells (human leukemic T cell lymphoma), the IC value of CAPs ranged from 0.9 to 8.5 μM while IC of CA was >300 μM. Antimicrobial testing also confirmed significantly higher activity of CAPs against selected microbes in comparison to CA, especially for Gram-positive bacteria (MIC 13-57 μM) and the yeast (MIC 13-57 μM). The anti- activity was studied against two pathogenic strains. In the case of , all CAPs revealed a stronger inhibitory effect (EC 74-3125 μM) than CA (>10 µM), while in strain, the higher inhibition was observed for three derivatives (EC 44-291 μM). The newly synthesized quaternary phosphanium salts of caffeic acid exhibited selective antitumor action and appeared to be promising antimicrobial agents for topical application, as well as potential molecules for further research.
Topics: Humans; Salts; Anti-Infective Agents; Antiprotozoal Agents; HeLa Cells; Caffeic Acids
PubMed: 38256271
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25021200