Neurobasal medium enhances titan cell formation in Cryptococcus spp.

IF 2.5 4区医学 Q2 PARASITOLOGY

Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Pub Date : 2025-06-27 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.1590/0074-02760240286

Juliana Godoy, Igor Avellar-Moura, Juliana Soares, Bruno Pontes, Susana Frases

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Titan cells in Cryptococcus species play a critical role in fungal virulence by resisting oxidative stress, phagocytosis, and antifungal treatments. Developing reliable methods to induce titan cells is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of Cryptococcus pathogenesis.

Objectives: In this study we report an unexpected discovery of a simple in vitro induction of titan cells in Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii using Neurobasal™ (NB) medium.

Methods and findings: By employing established in vitro culture methods, we demonstrate a significantly higher capacity for titan cell formation in Cryptococcus spp. Cells grown in complete NB medium exhibited larger cell bodies, increased capsule sizes, and a higher percentage of titan cells compared to those grown in minimal medium (MM). NB medium without the B27 supplement significantly impacted titan cell formation.

Main conclusions: Our findings indicate that NB medium, originally developed for neuronal cell cultures, is a useful tool for studying titan cell biology. This is particularly relevant given the association between titan cells and the central nervous system, highlighting their potential role in Cryptococcus pathogenesis.

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神经基础培养基促进隐球菌泰坦细胞形成。

背景：隐球菌中的泰坦细胞通过抵抗氧化应激、吞噬和抗真菌治疗在真菌毒力中起关键作用。开发可靠的方法诱导泰坦细胞是了解隐球菌发病机制的关键。目的：在这项研究中，我们报告了一个意想不到的发现，即使用Neurobasal™（NB）培养基在体外简单地诱导新生隐球菌和加蒂隐球菌的泰坦细胞。方法和发现：通过采用已建立的体外培养方法，我们证明隐球菌具有明显更高的泰坦细胞形成能力。与在最小培养基（MM）中培养的细胞相比，在完全NB培养基中培养的细胞具有更大的细胞体，更大的胶囊大小和更高的泰坦细胞百分比。不添加B27的NB培养基显著影响巨细胞的形成。主要结论：我们的研究结果表明，最初为神经细胞培养而开发的NB培养基是研究泰坦细胞生物学的有用工具。考虑到泰坦细胞和中枢神经系统之间的关联，这一点尤其重要，突出了它们在隐球菌发病机制中的潜在作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 医学-寄生虫学

CiteScore

5.00

自引率

3.60%

发文量

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz is a journal specialized in microbes & their vectors causing human infections. This means that we accept manuscripts covering multidisciplinary approaches and findings in the basic aspects of infectious diseases, e.g. basic in research in prokariotes, eukaryotes, and/or virus. Articles must clearly show what is the main question to be answered, the hypothesis raised, and the contribution given by the study. Priority is given to manuscripts reporting novel mechanisms and general findings concerning the biology of human infectious prokariotes, eukariotes or virus. Papers reporting innovative methods for diagnostics or that advance the basic research with these infectious agents are also welcome. It is important to mention what we do not publish: veterinary infectious agents research, taxonomic analysis and re-description of species, epidemiological studies or surveys or case reports and data re-analysis. Manuscripts that fall in these cases or that are considered of low priority by the journal editorial board, will be returned to the author(s) for submission to another journal.