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JFMS Open Reports 2023Feline sino-nasal aspergillosis is a rare condition with only sparse heterogeneous reports in the literature regarding its treatment. This report describes the...
CASE SUMMARY
Feline sino-nasal aspergillosis is a rare condition with only sparse heterogeneous reports in the literature regarding its treatment. This report describes the presentation, treatment and outcome of a cat with sino-nasal aspergillosis treated by meticulous debridement in combination with topical and systemic azole therapy. Diagnosis was based on MRI, in combination with rhinoscopic assessment and visualisation of fungal plaques, followed by histopathology, fungal culture and panfungal PCR. The cat was treated by debridement of fungal plaques via anterior rhinoscopy and frontal sinusotomy and local instillation of 1% clotrimazole solution, followed by a 4-week course of oral itraconazole. Histopathology confirmed fungal rhinitis and culture identified and . Clinical remission was achieved after treatment; however, evidence of persistent infection was confirmed in the post-mortem examination 8 months after the cat was euthanased for unrelated reasons.
RELEVANCE AND NOVEL INFORMATION
Despite clinical remission, the persistence of fungal infection post mortem highlights the challenges of monitoring the response to treatment and illustrates that the resolution of clinical signs does not necessarily equate with a disease cure.
PubMed: 37799297
DOI: 10.1177/20551169231201605 -
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Aug 2017Many fungi can develop on building material in indoor environments if the moisture level is high enough. Among species that are frequently observed, some are known to be...
Many fungi can develop on building material in indoor environments if the moisture level is high enough. Among species that are frequently observed, some are known to be potent mycotoxin producers. This presence of toxinogenic fungi in indoor environments raises the question of the possible exposure of occupants to these toxic compounds by inhalation after aerosolization. This study investigated mycotoxin production by , , and during their growth on wallpaper and the possible subsequent aerosolization of produced mycotoxins from contaminated substrates. We demonstrated that mycophenolic acid, sterigmatocystin, and macrocyclic trichothecenes (sum of 4 major compounds) could be produced at levels of 1.8, 112.1, and 27.8 mg/m, respectively, on wallpaper. Moreover, part of the produced toxins could be aerosolized from the substrate. The propensity for aerosolization differed according to the fungal species. Thus, particles were aerosolized from wallpaper contaminated with when an air velocity of just 0.3 m/s was applied, whereas required an air velocity of 5.9 m/s. was intermediate, since aerosolization occurred under an air velocity of 2 m/s. Quantification of the toxic content revealed that toxic load was mostly associated with particles of size ≥3 μm, which may correspond to spores. However, some macrocyclic trichothecenes (especially satratoxin H and verrucarin J) can also be found on smaller particles that can deeply penetrate the respiratory tract upon inhalation. These elements are important for risk assessment related to moldy environments. The possible colonization of building material by toxinogenic fungi in cases of moistening raises the question of the subsequent exposure of occupants to aerosolized mycotoxins. In this study, we demonstrated that three different toxinogenic species produce mycotoxins during their development on wallpaper. These toxins can subsequently be aerosolized, at least partly, from moldy material. This transfer to air requires air velocities that can be encountered under real-life conditions in buildings. Most of the aerosolized toxic load is found in particles whose size corresponds to spores or mycelium fragments. However, some toxins were also found on particles smaller than spores that are easily respirable and can deeply penetrate the human respiratory tract. All of these data are important for risk assessment related to fungal contamination of indoor environments.
PubMed: 28646113
DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01001-17 -
Tetrahedron Letters Apr 2011Notoamide E, a short-lived secondary metabolite, has been proposed as a biosynthetic intermediate to several advanced metabolites isolated from Aspergillus versicolor....
Notoamide E, a short-lived secondary metabolite, has been proposed as a biosynthetic intermediate to several advanced metabolites isolated from Aspergillus versicolor. In order to verify the role of this indole alkaloid along the biosynthetic pathway, synthetic doubly (13)C-labeled notoamide E was fed to Aspergillus versicolor. Analysis of the metabolites showed significant incorporation of notoamide E into the natural products notoamides C and D.
PubMed: 22140279
DOI: 10.1016/j.tetlet.2011.02.078 -
PloS One 2015Fungi isolated from marine invertebrates are of considerable importance as new promising sources of unique secondary metabolites with significant biomedical potential....
Fungi isolated from marine invertebrates are of considerable importance as new promising sources of unique secondary metabolites with significant biomedical potential. However, the cultivable fungal community harbored in jellyfish was less investigated. In this work, we seek to recover symbiotic fungi from different tissues of jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai. A total of seven morphotypes were isolated, which were assigned into four genera (Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Purpureocillium, and Tilletiopsis) from two phyla (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota) by comparing the rDNA-ITS sequences with the reference sequences in GenBank. The most fungi were found in the inner tissues of subumbrella. Two of the cultivation-independent procedures, changing media type and co-cultivation, were employed to maximize the complexity of metabolites. Thus, thirteen EtOAc gum were obtained and fingerprinted by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) equipped with a photodiode array (PDA) detector. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of these complex mixtures were tested against a panel of bacterial and fungal pathogens. The antimicrobial results showed that all of the 13 EtOAc extracts displayed different levels of antibacterial activity, three of which exhibited strong to significant antibacterial activity to the bacterial pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella entrica. Antifungal activity indicated that the EtOAc extracts from pure culture of Aspergillus versicolor and co-culture of A. versicolor and Tilletiopsis sp. in rice media were promising for searching new compounds, with the maximal mycelial growth inhibition of 82.32% ± 0.61% for Rhizoctonia solani and 48.41% ± 11.02% for Botrytis cinerea at 200 μg/ml, respectively. This study is the first report on the antibacterial and antifungal activity of jellyfish-associated fungi and allows the first sight into cultivable fungal community residing in jellyfish. Induced metabolites by cultivation-dependent approaches provides a new reservoir for drug discovery from jellyfish-derived fungi.
Topics: Animals; Ascomycota; Basidiomycota; Rhizoctonia; Salmonella enterica; Scyphozoa; Staphylococcus aureus
PubMed: 26637162
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144394 -
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Aug 1976Higher yields of sterigmatocystin were obtained with Aspergillus versicolor than with Bipolaris sorokiniana both in liquid and on solid media. The optimum temperature...
Higher yields of sterigmatocystin were obtained with Aspergillus versicolor than with Bipolaris sorokiniana both in liquid and on solid media. The optimum temperature for sterigmatocystin production by A. versicolor was 27 to 29 degrees C and 23 degrees C for B. sorokiniana. In liquid shake cultures, production of sterigmatocystin by B. sorokiniana was negligible, whereas maximal production by A. versicolor was 210 mg/liter. On solid substrates, the highest yields (8 g/kg) were obtained with A. versicolor on still cultures of whole corn supplemented with Soytone.
Topics: Aspergillus; Culture Media; Mitosporic Fungi; Sterigmatocystin; Temperature; Time Factors; Xanthenes; Zea mays
PubMed: 970940
DOI: 10.1128/aem.32.2.206-208.1976 -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Oct 2000We report on a reverse-hybridization line probe assay (LiPA) which when combined with PCR amplification detects and identifies clinically significant fungal pathogens...
We report on a reverse-hybridization line probe assay (LiPA) which when combined with PCR amplification detects and identifies clinically significant fungal pathogens including Candida, Aspergillus, and Cryptococcus species. DNA probes have been designed from the internal transcribed-spacer (ITS) regions of Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida krusei, Candida dubliniensis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus flavus. The probes were incorporated into a LiPA for detection of biotinylated ITS PCR products, and the specificity of the probes was evaluated. We established LiPA detection limits for ITS 1 and for full ITS amplicons for genomic DNA from C. albicans, A. fumigatus, and C. neoformans. Further evaluation of the LiPA was carried out on clinical fungal isolates. One hundred twenty-seven isolates consisting of dimorphic yeasts and dermatophytic and filamentous fungi were tested by the LiPA, which correctly identified 77 dimorphic yeasts and 23 of the filamentous isolates; the remaining 27 isolates represented species of fungi for which probes were not included in the LiPA. The fungal-PCR-LiPA technology was applied to blood samples inoculated with Candida cells which were pretreated by minibead beating to mechanically disrupt the cells, with the DNA extracted by either a previously described guanidium thiocyanate-silica method or the commercially available QIAmp tissue kit. PCR amplification of the extracted DNA and subsequent DNA probe hybridization in the LiPA assay yielded detection limits of 2 to 10 cells/ml. An internal standard control was included in the PCR amplification to monitor for PCR inhibition. This fungal PCR-LiPA assay is robust and sensitive and can easily be integrated into a clinical-testing laboratory with the potential for same-day diagnosis of fungal infection.
Topics: DNA Primers; DNA, Fungal; DNA, Ribosomal; Fungi; Humans; Mycoses; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 11015393
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.38.10.3735-3742.2000 -
BMC Microbiology Apr 2017Indoor air pollution caused by fungal contamination is suspected to have a public health impact. Monitoring of the composition of the indoor airborne fungal contaminants...
BACKGROUND
Indoor air pollution caused by fungal contamination is suspected to have a public health impact. Monitoring of the composition of the indoor airborne fungal contaminants is therefore important. To avoid problems linked to culture-dependent protocols, molecular methods are increasingly being proposed as an alternative. Among these molecular methods, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the real-time PCR are the most frequently used tools for indoor fungal detection. However, even if these tools have demonstrated their appropriate performance, some of them are not able to discriminate between species which are genetically close. A solution to this could be the use of a post-qPCR high resolution melting (HRM) analysis, which would allow the discrimination of these species based on the highly accurate determination of the difference in melting temperature of the obtained amplicon. In this study, we provide a proof-of-concept for this approach, using a dye adapted version of our previously developed qPCR SYBR®Green method to detect Aspergillus versicolor in indoor air, an important airborne fungus in terms of occurrence and cause of health problems. Despite the good performance observed for that qPCR method, no discrimination could previously be made between A. versicolor, Aspergillus creber and Aspergillus sydowii.
METHODS
In this study, we developed and evaluated an HRM assay for the discrimination between A. versicolor, Aspergillus creber and Aspergillus sydowii.
RESULTS
Using HRM analysis, the discrimination of the 3 Aspergillus species could be made. No false positive, nor false negatives were observed during the performance assessment including 20 strains of Aspergillus. The limit of detection was determined for each species i.e., 0.5 pg of gDNA for A. creber and A. sydowii, and 0.1 pg of gDNA for A. versicolor. The HRM analysis was also successfully tested on environmental samples.
CONCLUSION
We reported the development of HRM tools for the discrimination of A. versicolor, A. creber and A. sydowii. However, this study could be considered as a study case demonstrating that HRM based on existing qPCR assays, allows a more accurate identification of indoor air contaminants. This contributes to an improved insight in the diversity of indoor airborne fungi and hence, eventually in the causal link with health problems.
Topics: Air Microbiology; Air Pollution, Indoor; Aspergillus; DNA, Fungal; Environmental Monitoring; Fungi; Humans; Limit of Detection; Proof of Concept Study; Public Health; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 28376723
DOI: 10.1186/s12866-017-0996-4 -
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Aug 2002Over the past decade, there has been growing concern regarding the role of toxigenic fungi in damp indoor environments; however, there is still a lack of field...
Over the past decade, there has been growing concern regarding the role of toxigenic fungi in damp indoor environments; however, there is still a lack of field investigations on exposure to mycotoxins. The goal of our pilot study was to quantify the proportion of toxigenic Aspergillus versicolor isolates in native carpet dust from damp dwellings with mold problems and to determine whether sterigmatocystin can be detected in this matrix. Carpet dust samples (n = 11) contained from <2.5 x 10(1) to 3.6 x 10(5) (median, 3.1 x 10(4)) A. versicolor CFU/g of dust, and the median proportion of A. versicolor from total culturable fungi was 18%. Based on thin-layer chromatography detection of sterigmatocystin, 49 of 50 A. versicolor isolates (98%) were found to be toxigenic in vitro. By using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry, sterigmatocystin could be detected in low concentrations (2 to 4 ng/g of dust) in 2 of 11 native carpet dust samples. From this preliminary study, we conclude that most strains of A. versicolor isolated from carpet dust are able to produce sterigmatocystin in vitro and that sterigmatocystin may occasionally occur in carpet dust from damp indoor environments. Further research and systematic field investigation are needed to confirm our results and to provide an understanding of the health implications of mycotoxins in indoor environments.
Topics: Air Pollution, Indoor; Aspergillus; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Colony Count, Microbial; Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Floors and Floorcoverings; Humidity; Mycotoxins; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Sterigmatocystin
PubMed: 12147486
DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.8.3886-3890.2002 -
Food Microbiology Feb 2023This study aimed to isolate and identify fungal species involved in sliced bread spoilage, and to evaluate their susceptibility to antifungal proteins of fungal origin...
This study aimed to isolate and identify fungal species involved in sliced bread spoilage, and to evaluate their susceptibility to antifungal proteins of fungal origin (AFPs). Proteins include PdAfpB from Penicillium digitatum and PeAfpA, PeAfpB and PeAfpC from Penicillium expansum. Based on morphological criteria, a group of sixteen fungal isolates were selected and subsequently identified at the species level using sequence analysis. Penicillium species, the predominant mycobiota, were identified based on a combined phylogenetic analysis using ITS and β-tubulin sequences, being P. roqueforti, P. brevicompactum, P. chrysogenum and P. crustosum the most abundant species. Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus niger and Bissochlamys spectabilis were also identified. Regarding the antifungal activity of AFPs, PdAfpB and PeAfpA were the most potent proteins since the growth of most of tested fungi was completely inhibited by concentrations ranging from 2 to 32 μg/mL. PeAfpB showed moderate antifungal activity, whereas PeAfpC was the least active protein. The best in vitro AFPs, PdAfpB and PeAfpA, were also evaluated in in situ protection assays against P. roqueforti. PdAfpB provoked a clear reduction of P. roqueforti growth in sliced bread samples, suggesting that this AFP has a protective effect on bread. This study underlines the potential of the AFPs tested, in particular PdAfpB, as alternative antifungal agents for extending sliced bread shelf life.
Topics: Bread; Antifungal Agents; Phylogeny; Penicillium; Aspergillus niger; Fungi
PubMed: 36309457
DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2022.104142 -
Effect of Culture Conditions of Endophytic Fungi on Yield and Anticancer and Antioxidant Activities.International Journal of Environmental... Feb 2023Culture conditions affect the production of secondary metabolites in endophytic fungi. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the yield and anticancer...
Culture conditions affect the production of secondary metabolites in endophytic fungi. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the yield and anticancer and antioxidant activity of endophytic fungi extracts from the cactus , under different culture conditions. The strains , , and sp. were fermented in different culture media (potato dextrose agar, Czapeck broth, and malt broth), types of inoculums (spore or mycelium), and shaking conditions (150 rpm or static) for one week. Methanol extracts were obtained from mycelia, which was followed by determining their yields and evaluating their effect on L5178Y-R murine lymphoma cells growth and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) viability, using the 3-[4,5dimethylthiazol-2-yl]2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide reduction colorimetric assay. In addition, antioxidant activity was determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl test. We determined the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC) values of tumor cell growth inhibition, the selectivity index (SI), and the antioxidant activity, as compared with the healthy cells control. The best yields were obtained with the Czapeck broth medium in all the evaluated strains, reaching values of 50.3%. Of the 48 extracts evaluated, only seven significantly ( < 0.01) inhibited tumor cell growth (IC < 250 µg/mL). extract showed the highest anticancer activity, after culturing spores (IC = 49.62 µg/mL; SI = 15.8) or mycelium (IC = 69.67 µg/mL; SI = 12.2) in malt broth, under static conditions. Extracts did not present significant antioxidant activity. In conclusion, we showed that culture conditions influenced the anticancer activity of endophytic fungi.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Mice; Antioxidants; Leukocytes, Mononuclear; Fungi; Culture Media
PubMed: 36900961
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20053948