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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2008, p. 470-476, Vol. 52, No. 2
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00715-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Cytotoxic Activity of N-Chlorotaurine on Acanthamoeba spp.

Ursula Fürnkranz,¹ Markus Nagl,² Waldemar Gottardi,² Martina Köhsler,¹ Horst Aspöck,¹ and Julia Walochnik^1*

Department of Medical Parasitology, Clinical Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria,¹ Department of Hygiene, Microbiology and Social Medicine, Division of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria²

Received 1 June 2007/ Returned for modification 9 September 2007/ Accepted 10 November 2007

Acanthamoeba spp. are the causative agents of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), which mainly occurs in contact lens wearers, and of skin lesions, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE), and disseminating diseases in the immunocompromised host. AK therapy is complex and irritating for the eye, skin lesions are difficult to treat, and there is no effective treatment for GAE. Therefore, new anti-Acanthamoeba drugs are needed. We investigated the anti-Acanthamoeba activity of N-chlorotaurine (NCT), an endogenous mild antiseptic. It was shown that NCT has amoebicidal qualities, both in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and in amoebic culture medium. After 6 h of treatment with 10 mM NCT in PBS, the levels of trophozoites of all strains investigated already showed at least a 2-log reduction. When the trophozoites were treated with 20 mM NCT in culture medium, they showed a 2-log reduction after 24 h. The addition of NH₄Cl to NCT led to a faster decrease in the numbers of living cells, if tests were carried out in PBS. A delay of excystation was observed when cysts were treated with 55 mM (1%) NCT in culture medium. A complete failure of excystment was the result of treatment with 1% NCT plus 1% NH₄Cl in PBS. Altogether, NCT clearly demonstrated amoebicidal activity at concentrations well tolerated by human tissues and might be useful as a topical drug for the treatment of Acanthamoeba infections. The addition of ammonium chloride can be considered to enhance the activity.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medical Parasitology, Clinical Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15, Vienna A-1095, Austria. Phone: 43-1-40490-79446. Fax: 43-1-40490-79435. E-mail: julia.walochnik{at}meduniwien.ac.at

Published ahead of print on 26 November 2007.

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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2008, p. 470-476, Vol. 52, No. 2
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00715-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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