Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of chymostatin, as an elastase inhibitor, in mice with invasive aspergillosis. Two Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) isolates obtained from animals (bovine mastitis and avian endophthalmitis) along with elastase-producing A. fumigatus ATCC 26933 were inoculated to seven mice groups according to the protocol. The induction of aspergillosis was confirmed by tissue cultures as well as histopathological examination. Chymostatin, as an elastase inhibitor, was used in treating the infected animals at doses of 50, 100, and 200 μM in four different times. There was no mortality in mice group 6 (mice treated with elastase-producing A. fumigatus ATCC 26933 + 200 μM chymostatin). The mortality rate was calculated approximately 50 % in mice infected with elastase-producing A. fumigatus (group 2). The highest colony forming units was observed in the kidney (35.3 %) and the lowest in the liver (5.9 %). Moreover, Aspergillus hyphae were observed in different tissues obtained from died mice in all groups except group 6. The results showed that chymostatin at a dose of 200 μM could be useful as a feasible replacement agent for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis.
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Acknowledgments
The work was funded by the Vice-Chancellor in research affairs of Tarbiat Modares University and Babol University of Medical Sciences. We thank Dr. SH Mirhendi for his helping to authors (Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Institute of Health research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences).
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Omran, S.M., Khosravi, A.R., Shokri, H. et al. Chymostatin as a therapeutic agent of aspergillosis in murine model. Comp Clin Pathol 23, 1–5 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-012-1559-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-012-1559-6