OBJECTIVES To evaluate the in vitro leishmanicidal activity of nine flavonoid derivatives from Delphinium staphisagria against L. infantum and L. braziliensis. DESIGN AND METHODS The in vitro activity of compounds 1-9 was assayed on extracellular promastigote and axenic amastigote forms and on intracellular amastigote forms of the parasites. Infectivity and cytotoxicity tests were carried on ...

The current interest in microalgae as a sustainable source of next generation biofuels and other valuable substances is driving exploration of their use as unique biotechnological production systems. To design and optimise appropriate production strategies, the behaviour of particular microalgal species should be well characterised under different culture conditions. Thus, flow cytometric (FCM)...

Trypanosoma minasense was isolated for the first time in blood axenic culture from a naturally infected marmoset, Callithrix penicillata, from Brazil. The parasite grew profusely in an overlay of Roswell Park Memorial Institute medium plus 20% foetal bovine serum, on Novy, McNeal and Nicolle medium (NNN), at 27 degrees C, with a peak around 168 hr. The morphometry of cultural forms of T. minase...

Green Ulvophyte macroalgae represent attractive model systems for understanding growth, development, and evolution. They are untapped resources for food, fuel, and high-value compounds, but can also form nuisance blooms. To fully analyze green seaweed morphogenesis, controlled laboratory-based culture of these organisms is required. To date, only a single Ulvophyte species, Ulva mutabilis Føyn,...

Trypanosomes must sense and respond to environmental change in order to progress through their life cycles. The American trypanosome, Trypanosoma cruzi, differentiates from the noninfective epimastigote form to the infective metacyclic form spontaneously in axenic culture. Here, we investigate the initial stimulus for that change and demonstrate that T. cruzi epimastigotes sense limitation of g...

giardia lamblia cysts were isolated from fecal samples of 55 symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with giardiasis. the cysts were harvested and purified using the sucrose gradient method. is the excystation of g. lamblia was obtained by treating them with hci (0.01n)', then they were transferred on to modified tyi-s-33 medium. out of 55 stool samples 17 cases were excysted with a rate of ...

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...

A pure bacterial culture remains essential for the study of its virulence, its antibiotic susceptibility, and its genome sequence in order to facilitate the understanding and treatment of caused diseases. The first culture conditions empirically varied incubation time, nutrients, atmosphere, and temperature; culture was then gradually abandoned in favor of molecular methods. The rebirth of cult...

We have fitted Gompertz, Weibull, and two- and three-parameter logistic equations to survival data obtained from 77 cohorts of Caenorhabditis elegans in axenic culture. Statistical analysis showed that the fitting ability was in the order: three-parameter logistic > two-parameter logistic = Weibull > Gompertz. Pooled data were better fit by the logistic equations, which tended to perform equall...

BACKGROUND Bioflocculants effect the aggregation of suspended solutes in solutions thus, a viable alternative to inorganic poly-ionic and synthetic organic flocculants which are associated with deleterious health problems. Consequently, a consortium of two bacteria species were evaluated for optimized bioflocculant yield following the inadequacies of axenic cultures. RESULTS 16S rDNA nucleoti...