Catecholamines in Entamoebae: recent (re)discoveries

Journal of biosciences

Dan Eichinger1¹  Alida Coppi¹  Jesse Frederick¹  Salim Merali¹ 

[1] Department of Medical and Molecular Parasitology, New York University School of Medicine, 341 East 25th Street, New York, New York, 10010, USA$$

关键词: Acanthamoeba;    catecholamines;    encystation;    Entamoeba;    epinephrine;    Hartmannella;    histamine;    serotonin;   

DOI  :  

来源: Indian Academy of Sciences

【 摘 要 】

Free-living and enteric amoebae have similar two-stage life cycles, and both organisms depend on being able to monitor environmental conditions to determine whether to continue multiplying as trophozoites, or to differentiate into dormant or transmissible cysts. Conditions that support high trophozoite densities might also be expected to select for mechanisms of information exchange between these cells. We recently determined that trophozoites of at least one species of Entamoeba release and respond to catecholamine compounds during differentiation from the trophozoite stage into the cyst stage. It turns out that this is not an entirely novel finding, as a number of previous studies have demonstrated parts of this story in free-living or enteric amoebae. We briefly review here major points of the previous studies and describe some of our recent results that have extended them.

【 授权许可】

Unknown