Estratégias de estocagem de sporothrix spp. e análise da sensibilidade das cepas ante aos derivados terpênicos farnesol e terpinen-4-ol in vitro

Abstract

Sporotrichosis is a subcutaneous mycosis that affects humans and animals caused by the dimorphic fungi of the genus Sporothrix. The storage of such microorganisms in culture collections is necessary to monitor the strains of Sporothrix spp. over the years. Despite the existence of effective antifungal therapies against this disease the search for new drugs for the treatment is necessary. Compounds such as farnesol and terpinen-4-ol have been tested against yeasts and filamentous fungi and have shown a broad antifungal spectrum. Thus, the present study aimed to seek new strategies for the preservation of biological and genetic patrimony of the genus Sporothrix, evaluate the in vitro inhibitory activity of farnesol and terpinen-4-ol against strains of Sporothrix spp., as well as evaluating the mechanisms of action of these compounds. Regarding the storage, 20 Sporothrix spp. strains were used and stocked under the following conditions: saline (0.9% NaCl) at 4 °C, 10% glycerol plus 10% lactose and 10% glycerol plus 10% sucrose maintained at -20 °C and -80 °C, stocked in intervals of 3, 6 and 9 months. The viability of the strains was evaluated by the macro and micromorphological aspects. For this purpose, the samples were subcultured in potato agar for seven days at 28 °C and evaluated for texture and pigmentation of the strains. For the micromorphological analysis, conidia count was performed using the ranges of 0-10, 10-50, 50-100 and >150 conidia as reference ranges. 40 Sporothrix spp. strains in the filamentous phase were used for the analysis of the inhibitory activity of the terpenes. The study was conducted using broth microdilution assay, described in M38-A2 document, standardized by CLSI. 16 Sporothrix spp. strains were used for the investigation of the mechanism of action of the terpenes in relation to the cell membrane permeability and readings were performed in a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of λ=260 nm, in order to verify the amount of nucleic acid and at λ=280 nm, in order to verify the amount of protein released into the medium. Sporothrix spp. strains showed 100% viability for growth on potato agar in all stock conditions tested, while in relation to the conidia count the stock methods that showed better results were saline at 4 °C, glycerol plus lactose and glycerol plus sucrose kept at -20 °C. The terpenes farnesol and terpinen-4-ol inhibited all Sporothrix spp. isolates tested with MIC values ranging from 0.015 to 1.0 mM for farnesol (geometric mean of 0.09) and 0.57 to 9.27 mM for terpinen-4-ol (geometric mean of 2.35). CFM values ranged between 0.125 to 4.0 mM and 1.15 to 37.1 mM for farnesol and terpinen-4-ol, respectively. Farnesol was the most active compound for all Sporothrix strains. There was no significant loss of intracellular material after treatment of fungal cells with concentrations of MIC and MIC/2 of terpenes tested when compared to the corresponding untreated samples. Therefore, it was observed that the terpenes showed no ability to lyse the Sporothrix cells, suggesting that its main mechanism of action is not associated with irreversible damage to the cell membrane structure. Thus, further studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms involved in the antifungal activity of the terpenes evaluated.