Aspergillus fumigatus conidia have been linked to severe aspergillosis in immunocompromised patients. Recently, the cytotoxic effect of secondary metabolites from A. fumigatus conidia was reported. In the present work, a methodology used to detect cell death markers in fungal hyphae was adapted to study conidia cell death. Additionally, the mechanism of H2O2-induced cell death was studied in A. fumigatus conidia for the first time. Data presented in this work reveal that the H2O2-induced conidial cell death was associated with a marked increase of TUNEL- and PI-positive cells. It is therefore suggested that conidia cell death occurs in a dose-dependent manner through a secondary necrosis mechanism. The knowledge of conidia cell death machinery may provide insights into the molecular mechanism of conidia-mediated toxicity to the respiratory tract and may pave the way for improved therapeutic approaches against A. fumigatus conidia-mediated diseases.
M Oliveira, C Pereira, C Bessa, R Araujo, L Saraiva. Hydrogen peroxide-induced secondary necrosis in conidia of Aspergillus fumigatus. Canadian journal of microbiology. 2016 Feb;62(2):95-101
PMID: 26639790
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