Novel Tetrazoles against Acanthamoeba castellanii Belonging to the T4 Genotype

BACKGROUND

Acanthamoeba castellanii is a pathogenic free-living amoeba responsible for blinding keratitis and fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. However, treatments are not standardized but can involve the use of amidines, biguanides, and azoles.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to synthesize a variety of synthetic tetrazole derivatives and test their activities against A. castellanii.

METHODS

A series of novel tetrazole compounds were synthesized by one-pot method and characterized by NMR and mass spectroscopy. These compounds were subjected to amoebicidal, and cytotoxicity assays against A. castellanii belonging to the T4 genotype and human keratinocyte skin cells respectively. Additionally, reactive oxygen species determination and electron microscopy studies were carried out. Furthermore, two of the seven compounds were conjugated with silver nanoparticles to study their antiamoebic potential.

RESULTS

A series of seven tetrazole derivatives were synthesized successfully. The selected tetrazoles showed anti-amoebic activities at 10µM concentration against A. castellanii in vitro. The compounds tested caused increased reactive oxygen species generation in A castellanii, and significant morphological damage to amoebal membranes. Moreover, conjugation of silver nanoparticles enhanced antiamoebic effects of two tetrazoles.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that azole compounds hold promise in the development of new formulations of anti-Acanthamoebic agents.

Applications of medicinal chemistry for drug discovery against Acanthamoeba infections

Acanthamoeba is a genus of free-living amoebae, pervasively found in the environment. Most of its pathogenic species are the causative agent of sight-threatening Acanthamoeba keratitis and fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. Despite the advancements in the field of chemotherapy, treating Acanthamoeba infections is still challenging due to incomplete knowledge of the complicated pathophysiology. In case of infection, the treatment regimen for the patients is often ineffective due to delayed diagnosis, poor specificity, and side-effects. Besides the resistance of Acanthamoeba cysts to most of the drugs, the recurrence of infection further complicates the recovery. Thus, it is necessary to develop an effective treatment which can eradicate these rare, but serious infections. Based on various computational and in vitro studies, it has been established that the synthetic scaffolds such as heterocyclic compounds may act as potential drug leads for the development of antiamoebic drugs. In this review, we report different classes of synthetic compounds especially heterocyclic compounds which have shown promising results against Acanthamoeba. Moreover, the antiamoebic activities of synthetic compounds with their possible mode of actions against Acanthamoeba, have been summarized and discussed in this review.

Development of a new oxygen consumption rate assay in cultures of Acanthamoeba (Protozoa: Lobosea) and its application to evaluate viability and amoebicidal activity in vitro

A new fluorometric method has been developed for measuring the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of Acanthamoeba cultures in microplates and for screening molecules with amoebicidal activity against this microorganism. The use of a biofunctional matrix (containing an oxygen-sensitive fluorogenic probe) attached to the microplate wells allowed continuous measurement of OCR in the medium, hence assessment of amoebic growth. The new OCR method applied to cell viability yielded a linear relationship and monitoring was much quicker than with indirect viability assays previously used. In addition, two drugs were tested in a cytotoxicity assay monitored by the new OCR viability test. With this procedure, the standard amoebicidal drug chlorhexidine digluconate showed an IC50 of 3.53 + 1.3 mg/l against Acanthamoeba polyphaga and 3.19 + 1.2 mg/l against Acanthamoeba castellanii, whereas a cationic dendrimer [G1Si(NMe3+)4] showed an IC50 of 6.42 + 1.3 mg/l against A. polyphaga. These data agree with previous studies conducted in our laboratory. Therefore, the new OCR method has proven powerful and quick for amoebicidal drug screening and is likely to be applied in biochemical studies concerning protozoa respiration and metabolism.