Utsunomiya T, Kobayashi M, Kobayashi H, Pollard RB, Suzuki F; Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
Abstr Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1998 Sep 24-27; 38: 470 (abstract no. J-66).
The Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston.
GR extracted from licorice roots has been shown to have various pharmacological potencies that include antiviral activities against HIV and influenza virus. In this study, the antifungal effect of GR in thermally injured mice infected with Candida albicans (C. albicans) was investigated. BALB/c mice, subjected to a flame burn (3rd degree, 15% of total body surface area), were challenged i.v. with C. albicans one day after thermal injury. GR, supplied by Minophagen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, was administered i.p. to mice 1 day before and 2 and 4 days after thermal injury. As a positive control, infected mice were treated with amphotericin B (1 mg/kg, i.p., twice a day) for a total of 7 days beginning 1 day after the infection. Cytokines contents were assayed by ELISA. When burned mice exposed to a 10 LD50, dose of C. albicans (1 x 10(6) organisms/mouse) were treated i.p. with GR, an 80% survival rate was obtained over the 28-day experimental period. This compared with 20% and 0% survival rates in burned mice treated with amphotericin B and saline (negative control), respectively. Also, growth of organisms in kidneys of burned mice treated with GR was markedly lower when compared with the amounts of C. albicans in kidneys of the negative control. Antifungal effect of GR was dose-dependent, and maximum efficacy was observed when burned mice were treated i.p. with a 10 mg/kg dose of the compound. The susceptibility of mice to C. albicans infection was influenced by type 2 cytokines (IL-4 and IL- 10). The resistance of normal mice to the infection was impaired to levels observed in burned mice when they were treated with a mixture of type 2 cytokines. After stimulation with anti-CD3 mAb, splenic CD8+ T cells from mice 6 days after thermal injury produced IL-4 and IL-10 into their culture fluids. However, these cytokines were not detected in culture fluids of the same cells from burned mice treated with GR. These results suggest that GR has antifungal activities on the C. albicans infection in thermally injured mice. GR may protect infected mice through the regulation of type 2 T cell responses associated with thermal injury.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Amphotericin B
- Animals
- Antifungal Agents
- Antiviral Agents
- Burns
- Candida albicans
- Candidiasis
- Cytokines
- Glycyrrhizic Acid
- Influenza, Human
- Interleukin-10
- Interleukin-4
- Japan
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred BALB C
- Miconazole
- Muridae
- Pneumonia
- Spleen
- T-Lymphocytes
- Tokyo
- injuries
Other ID:
UI: 102188474
From Meeting Abstracts