INVESTIGADORES
NICOLAO Maria Celeste
artículos
Título:
Echinococcus granulosus tegumental enzymes as in vitro markers of pharmacological damage: A biochemical and molecular approach
Autor/es:
ANDREA C. CUMINO; MARÍA CELESTE NICOLAO; JULIA A. LOOS; GUILLERMO M. DENEGRI; M. CELINA ELISSONDO
Revista:
PARASITOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
Editorial:
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2012 vol. 61 p. 579 - 585
ISSN:
1383-5769
Resumen:
Cystic echinococcosis is a chronic, complex, and neglected disease. Novel therapeutical tools are needed to optimize
human treatment. A number of compounds have been investigated, either using in vitro cultured parasites
and/or applying in vivo rodent models. Although some of these compounds showed promising activities in vitro,
and to some extent also in the rodent models, they have not been translated into clinical applications.Membrane
enzyme activities in culture supernatants of treated protoscoleces with calciummodulator drugs and anthelmintic
drugswere measured and provided an indication of compound efficacy. This work describes for the first time
the detection of alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase and acetylcholinesterase activities in supernatants
of in vitro treated Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces. Marked differences on the enzymatic activities
in supernatants fromdrug treated cultures were detected. We demonstrated that those genes that showthe
highest degree of conservation when compared to orthologs, are constitutively and highly expressed in protoscoleces
andmetacestodes. Due to high sensibility and the lack of activity in supernatants of intact protoscoleces,
gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase is proposed as the ideal viability marker during in vitro pharmacological studies
against E. granulosus protoscoleces.