Fatimah Binti Hashim
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
Title: Mechanisms of cell death in eukaryotic microorganism: An in-depth overview
Biography
Biography: Fatimah Binti Hashim
Abstract
Eukaryotic microorganisms shared similar characteristics with mammalian cells, such as typical plasma membrane, organelles, as well as life cycle progression and death pathway mechanisms, however as a single living cell, their life cycle is shorter than mammalian cells. Pathogenic species of eukaryotic microorganism such as Leishmania, Plasmodium, Trypanosome, Toxoplasma have been studied for many years for their potential antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, the mode of drug action and cell death are crucial as treatment for this disease wouldn’t harm the host. Study on Acanthamoeba sp, proved that eukaryotic organism shares similar death mechanism as in mammalian cells, which consist of apoptosis, necrosis and autophagic cell death. Apoptosis and autophagic cell death mechanisms are thought to be the safest way for the diseased cell or parasite should die. Our study also indicated that different xenobiotic introduced will trigger different type of cell death as well as the duration of exposure. The effect of selected anti-amoebic agent were introduced to the Acanthamoeba sp. (corneal scrapping isolates) from an Acanthamoeba keratitis patient and microscopy analyses were used to determine the mode of cell death on this Acanthamoeba sp. The effect on plasma membrane, lysosomal structure, and the DNA structure was observed in detail. Our study indicated that the mode of cell death in this Acanthamoeba sp. began with autophagic cell death followed by apoptosis mechanism. High lysosomal activities might activate other death associated protein before proceed to apoptosis event in the Acanthamoeba cells. Typical markers of mammalian apoptosis were observed suggesting the presence of similar apoptotic cascade in Acanthamoeba cells. Morphological alteration that were visualized were cell shrinkage, DNA fragmentation and nuclear chromation condensation. In conclusion, critical analysis of cell death pathway caused by antimicrobial is crucial prior to treatment as it will assure its efficacy and assure the safety of the host (patient).