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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 2008, p. 875-882, Vol. 52, No. 3
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00642-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Mitochondrion Is a Site of Trypanocidal Action of the Aromatic Diamidine DB75 in Bloodstream Forms of Trypanosoma brucei{triangledown}

Charlotte A. Lanteri,1 Richard R. Tidwell,1 and Steven R. Meshnick2*

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,1 Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina2

Received 15 May 2007/ Returned for modification 28 July 2007/ Accepted 6 December 2007

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a fatal tropical disease caused by infection with protozoans of the species Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense. An oral prodrug, DB289, is a promising new therapy undergoing phase III clinical trials for early-stage HAT. DB289 is metabolically converted to the active trypanocidal diamidine DB75 [2,5-bis(4-amidinophenyl)furan]. We previously determined that DB75 inhibits yeast mitochondrial function (C. A. Lanteri, B. L. Trumpower, R. R. Tidwell, and S. R. Meshnick, Antimicrob. Agent Chemother. 48:3968-3974, 2004). The purpose of this study was to investigate if DB75 targets the mitochondrion of T. b. brucei bloodstream forms. DB75 rapidly accumulates within the mitochondria of living trypanosomes, as indicated by the fluorescent colocalization of DB75 with a mitochondrion-specific dye. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis of rhodamine 123-stained living trypanosomes shows that DB75 and other trypanocidal diamidines (pentamidine and diminazene) collapse the mitochondrial membrane potential. DB75 inhibits ATP hydrolysis within T. brucei mitochondria and appears to inhibit the oligomycin-sensitive F1F0-ATPase and perhaps other ATPases. DB75 is most likely not an inhibitor of electron transport within trypanosome mitochondria, since DB75 fails to inhibit mitochondrial respiration when glycerol-3-phosphate is used as the respiratory substrate. However, DB75 inhibits whole-cell respiration (50% inhibitory concentration, 20 µM) at drug concentrations and incubation durations that also result in the dissipation of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Taken together, these findings suggest that the mitochondrion is a target of the trypanocidal action of DB75.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, 2102C McGavran/Greenberg Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Phone: (919) 966-7414. Fax: (919) 966-0584. E-mail: Meshnick{at}email.unc.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 17 December 2007.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 2008, p. 875-882, Vol. 52, No. 3
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00642-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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