Elsevier

Biochemical Pharmacology

Volume 33, Issue 7, 1 April 1984, Pages 1069-1074
Biochemical Pharmacology

A comparison of the interaction of anthelmintic benzimidazoles with tubulin isolated from mammalian tissue and the parasitic nematode Ascaridia galli

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-2952(84)90515-XGet rights and content

Abstract

Colchicine and a range of anthelmintic benzimidazoles inhibited the in vitro polymerization of tubulin purified from the parasitic nematode Ascaridia galli. In most cases, this inhibition was more pronounced than that detected when these drugs were incubated with tubulin purified from mammalian tissue. In particular, oxfendazole and thiabendazole had virtually no effect on mammalian tubulin assembly whereas they were both good inhibitors of nematode tubulin polymerization. Electron microscopic examinations revealed no morphological differences between microtubules from either nematode or mammalian tissues polymerized in the presence or absence of drug, though the length and number of microtubules was reduced in the drug-incubated samples. These results show that the benzimidazole group of anthelmintics interacts specifically with nematode tubulin and that their selectivity, at least in part, is a direct consequence of such interaction.

References (14)

  • P.A. Friedman et al.

    Biochim. biophys. Acta

    (1978)
  • C.M. Ireland et al.

    Biochem. Pharmac.

    (1979)
  • J. Hoebeke et al.

    Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun.

    (1976)
  • P.A. Friedman et al.

    Biochim. biophys. Acta

    (1980)
  • P. Köhler et al.

    Molec. biochem. Parasit.

    (1981)
  • P.J. Dawson et al.

    Molec. biochem. Parasit.

    (1983)
  • M. Bradford

    Analyt. Biochem.

    (1976)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

Present address: The Wellcome Research Laboratories, Langley Court, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BS, U.K.

View full text