Internalization, phagolysosomal biogenesis and killing of mycobacteria in enucleated epithelial cells.

Bacterial and parasitic intracellular pathogens or their secreted products have been shown to induce host cell transcriptional responses, which may benefit the host, favour the microorganism or be unrelated to the infection. In most instances, however, it is not known if the host cell nucleus is proximately required for the development of an intracellular infection. This information can be obtained by the infection of artificially enucleated host cells (cytoplasts). This model, although rather extensively used in studies of viral infection, has only been applied to few bacterial pathogens, which do not include Mycobacterium spp. Here, we investigate the internalization, phagosome biogenesis and survival of M. smegmatis in enucleated type II alveolar epithelial cells. Cytoplasts were infected with M. smegmatis, but the percentage of infection was significantly lower than that of nucleated cells. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that in both cells and cytoplasts, bacteria were internalized by a phagocytosis-like mechanism. Interestingly, phagosome fusion with lysosomes and mycobacterial killing were both more efficient in enucleated than in nucleated cells, a finding that may be correlated with the increased number of autophagic vesicles developed in cytoplasts. We provide evidence that although quantitative changes were observed, the full development of the infection, as well as mycobacterial killing did not require the presence of the host cell nucleus.

Preclinical safety and efficacy models for pulmonary drug delivery of antimicrobials with focus on in vitro models.

New pharmaceutical formulations must be proven as safe and effective before entering clinical trials. Also in the context of pulmonary drug delivery, preclinical models allow testing of novel antimicrobials, reducing risks and costs during their development. Such models allow reducing the complexity of the human lung, but still need to reflect relevant (patho-) physiological features. This review focuses on preclinical pulmonary models, mainly in vitro models, to assess drug safety and efficacy of antimicrobials. Furthermore, approaches to investigate common infectious diseases of the respiratory tract, are emphasized. Pneumonia, tuberculosis and infections occurring due to cystic fibrosis are in focus of this review. We conclude that especially in vitro models offer the chance of an efficient and detailed analysis of new antimicrobials, but also draw attention to the advantages and limitations of such currently available models and critically discuss the necessary steps for their future development.

P-glycoprotein interactions of novel psychoactive substances - stimulation of ATP consumption and transport across Caco-2 monolayers.

In contrast to drugs for therapeutic use, there are only few data available concerning interactions between P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and drugs of abuse (DOA). In this work, interactions between structurally diverse DOA and P-gp were investigated using different strategies. First, the effect on the P-gp ATPase activity was studied by monitoring of ATP consumption after addition to recombinant, human P-gp. Second, DOA showing an increased ATP consumption were further characterized regarding their transport across filter grown Caco-2- monolayers. Analyses were performed by luminescence and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. Among the nine DOA initially screened, benzedrone, diclofensine, glaucine, JWH-200, MDBC, WIN-55,212-2 showed an increase of ATP consumption in the ATPase stimulation assay. In Caco-2 transport studies, Glaucine, JWH-200, mitragynine, WIN-55,212-2 could moreover be identified as non-transported substrates, but inhibitors of P-gp activity. Thus, drug-drug or drug-food interactions should be very likely for these compounds.

Carrier interactions with the biological barriers of the lung: advanced in vitro models and challenges for pulmonary drug delivery.

In recent years significant progress has been made to improve particle deposition in the lung. However, the development of strategies to overcome the air-blood lung barrier is still needed. The combination of complex in vitro models and sophisticated particulate carriers is promising as a strategy by which that goal could be achieved. In this review we discuss currently available in vitro lung models, including some recent tissue-engineering approaches, as well as the challenges associated to implement such complex in vitro systems. Furthermore, we discuss available carrier technologies, often based on nanotechnology, to target specific regions of the lungs and to overcome the respective biological barriers, ideally resulting in safe and effective delivery to the desired pulmonary destination.