Effects of deferoxamine methanesulfonate onTrichophyton mentagrophytes

The role of iron in protozoan and fungal infectious diseases

To survive and replicate in vertebrate hosts, protozoan and fungal invaders must be capable of securing host iron. Successful pathogens obtain the metal from either extraction of heme, binding of siderophilins, binding of siderophores, and/or iron pools within host cells. The actual strategy can vary with the availability of iron in the particular host milieu. As a corollary, hosts have developed an elaborate iron withholding defense system. Conditions that can compromise the system as well as procedures that can strengthen it are reviewed.

Isolation and identification of the principal siderophore of the dermatophyte Microsporum gypseum

The dermatophyte Microsporum gypseum has been shown to produce two siderophores under conditions of low-iron stress. These compounds have been separated as Fe(III) complexes on silica gel, and the principal siderophore has been identified as ferricrocin using the methods of amino acid analysis, comparative thin-layer chromatography, partial sequencing by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, ultraviolet spectroscopy, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the Al(III) complex.