Chlamydia trachomatis is among the most clinically significant human pathogens, yet their obligate intracellular nature places severe restrictions upon research. Chlamydiae undergo a biphasic developmental cycle characterized by an infectious cell type known as an elementary body (EB) and an intracellular replicative form called a reticulate body (RB). EBs have historically been described as me...

Leishmaniasis is a worldwide disease still treated with expensive compounds that present severe side effects, and are frequently ineffective emphasizing the importance to search effective compounds against this disease. Miltefosine drug (HePC) that used as antitumor agent has been used against Leishmania tropica in two forms promastigote and axenic amastigote in vitro conditions. Different conc...

In vitro cultured monolayers of normal human vaginal epithelial cells were incubated with axenic cultures of Trichomonas vaginalis. Two strains freshly isolated from patients with trichomoniasis and one strain that had been maintained in axenic culture for several years were studied. Freshly isolated trichomonads showed amoeboid movements, adherence to epithelial cell surfaces, and were cytotox...

Drosophila melanogaster is an outstanding model to study the molecular and functional basis of host-pathogen interactions. Currently, our knowledge of microbial infections in D. melanogaster is well understood; however, the response of flies to nematode infections is still in its infancy. Here, we have used the potent parasitic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae, which lives in mutualism with its...

A strategy to obtain axenic cultures of the cyanobacterium Arthrospira sp. ('platensis') Lefevre 1963/M-132-1 strain, consisting of a series of physical and chemical procedures, and the application of an optimized pool of antibiotics, is described in this paper. This strategy, which is an inexpensive and fast way to obtain axenic cultures, can be applied to Arthrospira spp. from culture collect...

In this report, we have characterized two metacaspases of Leishmania donovani, L. donovani metacaspase-1 (LdMC1) and LdMC2. These two proteins show 98% homology with each other, and both contain a characteristic C-terminal proline-rich domain. Both genes are transcribed in promastigotes and axenic amastigotes of L. donovani; however, LdMC1 shows increased mRNA levels in axenic amastigotes. An a...

Porophyllum ruderale (Jacq.) Cass. is a plant native to Brazil and in the northwest region of the state of Paraná, Brazil, aerial parts of P. ruderale have been used popularly in the treatment of lesions caused by Leishmania sp.. In this study the antileishmanial and cytotoxic activities of the crude extract, fractions, and isolated compounds from aerial parts of P. ruderale was evaluated. The ...