Amphotericin B

Amphotericin B is a polyene antifungal agent against a wide variety of fungal pathogens. It binds irreversibly to ergosterol, resulting in disruption of membrane integrity and ultimately cell death. IC50 & Target: Fungal^[1] In Vitro: Amphotericin B administration is limited by infusion-related toxicity, including fever and chills, an effect postulated to result from proinflammatory cytokine production by innate immune cells. Amphotericin B induces signal transduction and inflammatory cytokine release from cells expressing TLR2 and CD14^[1]. Amphotericin B interacts with cholesterol, the major sterol of mammal membranes, thus limiting the usefulness of Amphotericin B due to its relatively high toxicity. Amphotericin B is dispersed as a pre-micellar or as a highly aggregated state in the subphase^[2]. Amphotericin B only kills unicellular Leishmania promastigotes (LPs) when aqueous pores permeable to small cations and anions are formed. Amphotericin B (0.1 mM) induces a polarization potential, indicating K⁺ leakage in KCl-loaded liposomes suspended in an iso-osmotic sucrose solution. Amphotericin B (0.05 mM) exhibits a nearly total collapse of the negative membrane potential, indicating Na⁺ entry into the cells^[3]. In Vivo: Amphotericin B results in prolonging the incubation time and decreasing PrPSc accumulation in the hamster scrapie model. Amphotericin B markedly reduces PrPSc levels in mice with transmissible subacute spongiform encephalopathies (TSSE)^[4]. Amphotericin B exerts a direct effect on Plasmodium falciparum and influences eryptosis of infected erythrocytes, parasitemia and hostsurvival in murine malaria. Amphotericin B tends to delay the increase of parasitemia and significantly delays host death plasmodium berghei-infected mice^[5].