Latrunculin A extraction, purification and formulation: cell culture application

• Grant number: 18/14304-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 31, 2018
• End date: February 27, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering - Bioengineering
• Principal Investigator: Elenice Deffune
• Grantee: Aruã Mastrangelo Prudenciatti
• Supervisor: Khalid A. El Sayed
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FMB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/24467-3 - Latrunculin use in microorganism control: cell engineering application, BP.IC

Abstract

Microbiological contamination is a problem that affects several laboratories worldwide ruining research’s in development. Alternative compounds should be discovered and evaluated in order to solve this problem. The latrunculins are natural macrolides extracted from the marine sponge Negombata magnifica that inhabits the Red Sea. Those substances can bind to the actin monomers, inhibiting it's polymerization. Actin is an important structural/cytoskeleton protein, involved in several cell survival and motility functions. Latrunculin A, specifically, has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of contaminant fungi isolated from cell culture environments and not responsive to RAJI-type suspension cells. However, the difficulty to obtain adequate supply of latrunculins, in addition to their low water solubility and stability represent a barrier for it's future use as a novel fungus controlling entity to prevent the growth and survival of most prevalent cell culture contaminating fungi as well as its use in protocols to recover contaminated cultures. In order to overcome this obstacle, this collaborative study proposes to extract and isolate relevant quantities of latrunculin A, followed by pharmaceutical formulations aiming at increasing its solubility and stability in aqueous solutions, which will generate novel cell culture preventive formula for diverse molecular biology and cellular engineering applications. (AU)