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Effects of Atovaquone on the Ultrastructural Morphology ofPneumocystis Carinii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

M.P. Goheen
Affiliation:
Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN,
M.S. Bartlett
Affiliation:
Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN,
M.M. Shaw
Affiliation:
Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN,
S.R. Meshnick
Affiliation:
Dept. of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
J.W. Smith
Affiliation:
Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN,
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Extract

Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) occurs at some time in most patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole or pentamidine isothionate are the traditional modes of therapy for treatment and prophylaxis of PCP. Unfortunately these drugs are associated with a significant incidence of adverse side effects particularly in patients with AIDS. Toxicity and a growing concern that P. carinii strains are becoming resistant to these compounds is providing the impetus for the search for additional drugs to combat P. carinii. Atovaquone, developed as an antimalarial agent, has activity against a wide range of other organisms, including Toxoplasma sp. and P. carinii, with a lower incidence of adverse reactions during clinical trials. Atovaquone inhibits mitochondrial respiration in P. falciparum and P. carinii. In this study transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to observe the effects of atovaquone on P. carinii organisms in short term spinner flask culture.

Spinner flask cultures of human embryonic lung cells were inoculated with P. carinii from infected rat lung.

Type
Pathology
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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