Prophylactic Activity of Tetracycline against Brugia pahangi Infection in Jirds (Meriones unguiculatus)

Bosshardt, Stephen C.; McCall, John W.; Coleman, Sharon U.; Jones, Karen L.; Petit, T.A.; Klei, Thomas R.

doi:10.2307/3283620

Cited by 88 publications

(55 citation statements)

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“…The results reported here (Table I) on the prophylactic activity of tetracycline against B. pahangi infection in jirds agree with those of Bosshardt et al (1993)-Our present paper, however, show that 0.3% tetracycline in drinking water is enough to prevent B. pahangi infection, while Bosshardt et al used dosages of 1.2% and 1.4%. We should consider that a 0.3% drinking water dosage (which corresponds to an intake of approximately 150 mg/kg/day) is a standard dosage for chemotherapy of rickettsial diseases.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…As discussed elsewere Bandi et al, 1999), the inhibitory effects of tetracycline on the embryogenesis of D. immitis and B. pahangi could derive from phenomena like cytoplasmic incompatibility or medea (Werren & O'Neill, 1997). The developmental inhibition observed by Sucharit et al (1978) and the prophylactic effects reported here and in Bosshardt et al (1993) imply effects on well-developed larvae (first stage larva-L3 and L3-adults). These effects cannot derive from cytoplasmic incompatibility.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…In 1978, tetracyline was shown to inhibt the development and migration of larvae of B. pahangi in mosquitoes (Sucharit et al, 1978). More recently, tetracycline has been shown to have prophylactic effects against infection with B. pahangi in jirds (Bosshardt et al, 1993). Tetracycline inhibition of the embryogenesis in B. pahangi and D. immitis has also been observed Bandi et al, 1999) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Wolbachiaand the antifilarial properties of tetracycline. An untold story

McCall

Jun

Bandi

1999

Italian Journal of Zoology

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The idea that tetracycline may have antifilarial properties was first proposed in 1960. Data were subsequently published on the effects of tetracycline on the development and reproduction of Brugia pahangi in both the mosquito and mammalian hosts. These studies were apparently ignored until recently. In 1998, it was suggested that the antifilarial properties of tetracycline may derive from the presence of the bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia in filarial worms. In view of this renewed interest, we would like to highlight an old study on the prophylactic activity of tetracycline against three filarial species. Although this work was performed at the begining of the seventies, and presented at a congress in 1973, it has never been published. This study showed that tetracycline had a prophylactic effect against infection of the mammalian host (the gerbil Meriones unguiculatus) with B. pahangi and Litomosoides sigmodontis. On the other hand, no significant prophylactic effect of the drug was observed against Acanthocheilonema viteae in the same host. The new data on the distribution and phylogeny of Wolbachia endosymbionts in filarial nematodes, showing that A. viteae is uninfected and that B. pahangi and L. sigmodontis are infected, suggest that the activity of tetracycline on the latter two species is related to the presence of Wolbachia.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Wolbachiaand the antifilarial properties of tetracycline. An untold story

McCall

Jun

Bandi

1999

Italian Journal of Zoology

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“…(Henkle-Du« hrsen et al 1998;Bandi et al 1998), suggesting the possibility of a new approach to the chemotherapy of a range of ¢larial infections. In experimental infection of jirds with Brugia, tetracycline was found to be prophylactic (although not curative) (Bosshardt et al 1993). Recent studies on oxytetracycline therapy in vivo with L. sigmodontis in mice demonstrated ¢larial growth arrest and infertility had no e¡ect on Acanthocheilonema viteae, which does not carry Wolbachia endosymbionts, and other antibiotics, ine¡ective against rickettsial bacteria, did not a¡ect Litomosoides development , evidence that the anti-¢larial e¡ects were mediated through action on the Wolbachia bacteria.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macrofilaricidal activity of tetracycline against the filarial nematode Onchocerca ochengi : elimination of Wolbachia precedes worm death and suggests a dependent relationship

Langworthy

Renz

Mackenstedt

et al. 2000

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

198

143

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Filarial nematodes are important and widespread parasites of animals and humans. We have been using the African bovine parasite Onchocerca ochengi as a chemotherapeutic model for O. volvulus, the causal organism of`river blindness' in humans, for which there is no safe and e¡ective drug lethal to adult worms. Here we report that the antibiotic, oxytetracycline is macro¢laricidal against O. ochengi. In a controlled trial in Cameroon, all adult worms (as well as micro¢lariae) were killed, and O. ochengi intradermal nodules resolved, by nine months' post-treatment in cattle treated intermittently for six months. Adult worms removed from concurrent controls remained fully viable and reproductively active. By serial electron-microscopic examination, the macro¢laricidal e¡ects were related to the elimination of intracellular micro-organisms, initially abundant. Analysis of a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene from the O. ochengi micro-organisms con¢rmed them to be Wolbachia organisms of the order Rickettsiales, and showed that the sequence di¡ered in only one nucleotide in 858 from the homologous sequence of the Wolbachia organisms of O. volvulus. These data are, to our knowledge, the ¢rst to show that antibiotic therapy can be lethal to adult ¢lariae. They suggest that tetracycline therapy is likely to be macro¢lari-cidal against O. volvulus infections in humans and, since similar Wolbachia organisms occur in a number of other ¢larial nematodes, against those infections too. In that the elimination of Wolbachia preceded the resolution of the ¢larial infections, they suggest that in O. ochengi at least, the Wolbachia organisms play an essential role in the biology and metabolism of the ¢larial worm.

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“…The prevalence and apparent stability of the Wolbachia^¢laria symbiosis suggest that Wolbachia plays an as yet unknown role in the biology of ¢larial nematodes. The activity of tetracycline against ¢larial worm development (Bosshardt et al 1993;Genchi et al 1998;J. W. McCall, personal communication) could thus derive from the action of tetracycline on Wolbachia endosymbionts, even though the possibility that tetracycline has a direct toxic e¡ect on ¢larial nematodes (or an indirect e¡ect mediated by endosymbionts di¡erent from Wolbachia) cannot be dismissed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeny of Wolbachia in filarial nematodes

Bandi

Anderson

Genchi

et al. 1998

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

530

459

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Intracellular bacteria have been observed in various species of ¢larial nematodes (family Onchocercidae). The intracellular bacterium of the canine ¢laria Diro¢laria immitis has been shown to be closely related to Wolbachia, a rickettsia-like micro-organism that is widespread among arthropods. However, the relationships between endosymbionts of di¡erent ¢lariae, and between these and the arthropod wolbachiae, appear not to have been studied. To address these issues we have examined ten species of ¢larial nematodes for the presence of Wolbachia. For nine species, all samples examined were PCR positive using primers speci¢c for the ftsZ gene of Wolbachia. For one species, the examined samples were PCR negative. Sequences of the ampli¢ed ftsZ gene fragments of ¢larial wolbachiae fall into two clusters (C and D), which are distinct from the A and B clusters recognized for arthropod wolbachiae. These four lineages (A^D) are related in a star-like phylogeny, with higher nucleotide divergence observed between C and D wolbachiae than that observed between A and B wolbachiae. In addition, within each of the two lineages of ¢larial wolbachiae, the phylogeny of the symbionts is consistent with the host phylogeny. Thus, there is no evidence for recent Wolbachia transmission between arthropods and nematodes. Endosymbiont 16S ribosomal DNA sequences from a subset of ¢larial species support these ¢ndings.

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Prophylactic Activity of Tetracycline against Brugia pahangi Infection in Jirds (Meriones unguiculatus)

Cited by 88 publications

References 0 publications

Wolbachiaand the antifilarial properties of tetracycline. An untold story

Wolbachiaand the antifilarial properties of tetracycline. An untold story

Macrofilaricidal activity of tetracycline against the filarial nematode Onchocerca ochengi : elimination of Wolbachia precedes worm death and suggests a dependent relationship

Phylogeny of Wolbachia in filarial nematodes

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