Journal
PEPTIDES
Volume 32, Issue 8, Pages 1764-1773Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2011.06.006
Keywords
Antimicrobial peptide; Cytotoxicity screening; High-content-analysis (HCA); Melittin; MTT assay
Funding
- Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology, Science Foundation Ireland [07/SRC/B1154]
- Food for Health Ireland, Food Science Building, University College Cork [CC20080001]
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Antimicrobial peptides (AMPS) are naturally occurring entities with potential as pharmaceutical candidates and/or food additives. They are present in many organisms including bacteria, insects, fish and mammals. While their antimicrobial activity is equipotent with many commercial antibiotics, current limitations are poor pharmacokinetics, stability and potential toxicology issues. Most elicit antimicrobial action via perturbation of bacterial membranes. Consequently, associated cytotoxicity in human cells is reflected by their capacity to lyse erythrocytes. However, more rigorous toxicological assessment of AMPs is required in order to predict potential failure at a later stage of development. We describe a high-content analysis (HCA) screening protocol recently established for determination and prediction of safety in pharmaceutical drug discovery. HCA is a powerful, multi-parameter bioanalytical tool that amalgamates the actions of fluorescence microscopy with automated cell analysis software in order to understand multiple changes in cellular health. We describe the application of HCA in assessing cytotoxicity of the cytolytic a-helical peptide, melittin, and selected structural analogs. The data shows that structural modification of melittin reduces its cytotoxic action and that HCA is suitable for rapidly identifying cytotoxicity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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