Bartlett A et al. (1975) Tropenmed Parasitol "Preliminary studies on the application of enzyme immunoassay in the detection of antibodies in onchocerciasis."

Bidwell DE, Bartlett A, Voller A

[Tropenmed Parasitol, 1975]

Preliminary enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with serum from a patient with onchoceriasis revealed extensive cross-reactions with various nematode antigens. Further tests on a batch of sera from people with proven O. volvulus infections using O. gutturosa antigen, showed that almost all the sera gave higher ELISA values than did control African sera.

Atjanasuppat K et al. (2009) J Ethnopharmacol "In vitro screening for anthelmintic and antitumour activity of ethnomedicinal plants from Thailand."

Bartlett A, Atjanasuppat K, Whitfield PJ, Kittakoop P, Meepowpan P, Sobhon P, Wongkham W

[J Ethnopharmacol, 2009]

AIM OF STUDY: This study screened for anthelmintic and/or antitumour bioactive compounds from Thai indigenous plants and evaluated effectiveness against three different worm species and two cancer cell lines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Methylene chloride and methanol extracts of 32 plant species were screened for in vitro anthelmintic activity against three species of worms, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the digeneans Paramphistomum epiclitum and Schistosoma mansoni (cercariae). Cytotoxicity of the extracts was evaluated against two cancer cell lines: human amelanotic melanoma (C32) and human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) by the SRB assay. Anthelmintic and anticancer activities were evaluated by the inhibiting concentration at 50% death (IC(50)) and the selectivity index (SI) relative to human fibroblasts. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: None of the extracts were active against Paramphistomum epiclitum. Plumbagin, a pure compound from Plumbago indica, had the strongest activity against Caenorhabditis elegans. The methylene chloride extract of Piper chaba fruits had the strongest activity against schistosome cercariae. Strong cytotoxicity was shown by the methylene chloride extract of Michelia champaca bark and the methanol extract of Curcuma longa rhizome against C32 and HeLa, respectively. These extracts had higher SI (>100) than positive controls in relation to either the worms or the cell lines. The methanol extract of Bouea burmanica had a slightly lower activity towards C32 cells than did Michelia champaca but had a much higher SI (>27,000). ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The plant species screened in this research was recorded by several indigenous medicinal practitioners as antiparasitic, anticancer and/or related activities to the human major organ system.

Quartey MO et al. (2021) Sci Rep "The A(1-38) peptide is a negative regulator of the A(1-42) peptide implicated in Alzheimer disease progression."

Pennington PR, Heistad RM, Nyarko JNK, Barnes JR, Bolanos MAC, Parsons MP, Knudsen KJ, De Carvalho CE, Leary SC, Mousseau DD, Buttigieg J, Maley JM, Quartey MO

[Sci Rep, 2021]

The pool of -Amyloid (A) length variants detected in preclinical and clinical Alzheimer disease (AD) samples suggests a diversity of roles for A peptides. We examined how a naturally occurring variant, e.g. A(1-38), interacts with the AD-related variant, A(1-42), and the predominant physiological variant, A(1-40). Atomic force microscopy, Thioflavin T fluorescence, circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering, and surface plasmon resonance reveal that A(1-38) interacts differently with A(1-40) and A(1-42) and, in general, A(1-38) interferes with the conversion of A(1-42) to a -sheet-rich aggregate. Functionally, A(1-38) reverses the negative impact of A(1-42) on long-term potentiation in acute hippocampal slices and on membrane conductance in primary neurons, and mitigates an A(1-42) phenotype in Caenorhabditis elegans. A(1-38) also reverses any loss of MTT conversion induced by A(1-40) and A(1-42) in HT-22 hippocampal neurons and APOE 4-positive human fibroblasts, although the combination of A(1-38) and A(1-42) inhibits MTT conversion in APOE 4-negative fibroblasts. A greater ratio of soluble A(1-42)/A(1-38) [and A(1-42)/A(1-40)] in autopsied brain extracts correlates with an earlier age-at-death in males (but not females) with a diagnosis of AD. These results suggest that A(1-38) is capable of physically counteracting, potentially in a sex-dependent manner, the neuropathological effects of the AD-relevant A(1-42).

Tangrodchanapong T et al. (2020) Front Pharmacol "Frondoside A Attenuates Amyloid- Proteotoxicity in Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans by Suppressing Its Formation."

Tangrodchanapong T, Sobhon P, Meemon K

[Front Pharmacol, 2020]

Oligomeric assembly of Amyloid- (A) is the main toxic species that contribute to early cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's patients. Therefore, drugs that reduce the formation of A oligomers could halt the disease progression. In this study, by using transgenic <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> model of Alzheimer's disease, we investigated the effects of frondoside A, a well-known sea cucumber <i>Cucumaria frondosa</i> saponin with anti-cancer activity, on A aggregation and proteotoxicity. The results showed that frondoside A at a low concentration of 1 M significantly delayed the worm paralysis caused by A aggregation as compared with control group. In addition, the number of A plaque deposits in transgenic worm tissues was significantly decreased. Frondoside A was more effective in these activities than ginsenoside-Rg3, a comparable ginseng saponin. Immunoblot analysis revealed that the level of small oligomers as well as various high molecular weights of A species in the transgenic <i>C. elegans</i> were significantly reduced upon treatment with frondoside A, whereas the level of A monomers was not altered. This suggested that frondoside A may primarily reduce the level of small oligomeric forms, the most toxic species of A. Frondoside A also protected the worms from oxidative stress and rescued chemotaxis dysfunction in a transgenic strain whose neurons express A. Taken together, these data suggested that low dose of frondoside A could protect against A-induced toxicity by primarily suppressing the formation of A oligomers. Thus, the molecular mechanism of how frondoside A exerts its anti-A aggregation should be studied and elucidated in the future.

Viney ME et al. (2004) Naturwissenschaften "Is dauer pheromone of Caenorhabditis elegans really a pheromone?"

Viney ME, Franks NR

[Naturwissenschaften, 2004]

Animals respond to signals and cues in their environment. The difference between a signal (e.g. a pheromone) and a cue (e.g. a waste product) is that the information content of a signal is subject to natural selection, whereas that of a cue is not. The model free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans forms an alternative developmental morph (the dauer larva) in response to a so-called 'dauer pheromone', produced by all worms. We suggest that the production of 'dauer pheromone' has no fitness advantage for an individual worm and therefore we propose that 'dauer pheromone' is not a signal, but a cue. Thus, it should not be called a pheromone.

Schaeffer JM et al. (1990) J Antibiot (Tokyo) "Cochlioquinone A, a nematocidal agent which competes for specific [3H]ivermectin binding sites."

Williamson JM, Schaeffer JM, Bergstrom AR, Liesch JM, Goetz MA, Frazier EG

[J Antibiot (Tokyo), 1990]

Cochlioquinone A, isolated from the fungus Helminthosporium sativum, was found to have nematocidal activity. Cochlioquinone A is a competitive inhibitor of specific [3H]ivermectin binding suggesting that cochlioquinone A and ivermectin interact with the same membrane receptor.

Desta IT et al. (2016) J Lab Autom "Detecting and Trapping of a Single C. elegans Worm in a Microfluidic Chip for Automated Microplate Dispensing."

Giakoumidis N, Mustafa N, AlGharibeh N, Orozaliev A, Al-Sharif A, Song YA, Desta IT, Gunsalus KC

[J Lab Autom, 2016]

Microfluidic devices offer new technical possibilities for a precise manipulation of Caenorhabditis elegans due to the comparable length scale. C. elegans is a small, free-living nematode worm that is a popular model system for genetic, genomic, and high-throughput experimental studies of animal development and neurobiology. In this paper, we demonstrate a microfluidic system in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for dispensing of a single C. elegans worm into a 96-well plate. It consists of two PDMS layers, a flow and a control layer. Using five microfluidic pneumatic valves in the control layer, a single worm is trapped upon optical detection with a pair of optical fibers integrated perpendicular to the constriction channel and then dispensed into a microplate well with a dispensing tip attached to a robotic handling system. Due to its simple design and facile fabrication, we expect that our microfluidic chip can be expanded to a multiplexed dispensation system of C. elegans worms for high-throughput drug screening.

Ailion M et al. (2017) Curr Biol "Genetics: Master Regulator or Master of Disguise?"

Malik HS, Ailion M

[Curr Biol, 2017]

The pha-1 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans was originally heralded as a master regulator of organ differentiation. A new study suggests instead that pha-1 actually serves no role in development and instead is a component of a selfish genetic element.

Gokul G et al. (2020) Curr Biol "Extracellular Proteostasis: Laying Siege to Pathogens."

Singh J, Gokul G

[Curr Biol, 2020]

How protein homeostasis is maintained in the extracellular space remains poorly studied. A recent study employed a Caenorhabditis elegans model to carry out a systematic analysis of the extracellular proteostasis network and uncovered its role in combating a pathogenic attack.

Shi W et al. (2008) Lab Chip "Droplet-based microfluidic system for individual Caenorhabditis elegans assay."

Shi W, Lin B, Ye N, Qin J

[Lab Chip, 2008]

A droplet-based microfluidic system integrating a droplet generator and a droplet trap array is described for encapsulating individual Caenorhabditis elegans into a parallel series of droplets, enabling characterization of the worm behavior in response to neurotoxin at single-animal resolution.