The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus.
Necator americanus, a haematophagous hookworm parasite, infects ~10% of the world's population and is considered to be a significant public health risk. Its lifecycle has distinct stages, permitting its successful transit from the skin via the lungs (L3) to the intestinal tract (L4 maturing to...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:39488ca46682497887be880ed7a39509 2023-05-15T15:13:50+02:00 The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. Veeren M Chauhan David J Scurr Thomas Christie Gary Telford Jonathan W Aylott David I Pritchard 2017-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005971 https://doaj.org/article/39488ca46682497887be880ed7a39509 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5720516?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005971 https://doaj.org/article/39488ca46682497887be880ed7a39509 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 11, Iss 12, p e0005971 (2017) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005971 2022-12-30T20:53:18Z Necator americanus, a haematophagous hookworm parasite, infects ~10% of the world's population and is considered to be a significant public health risk. Its lifecycle has distinct stages, permitting its successful transit from the skin via the lungs (L3) to the intestinal tract (L4 maturing to adult). It has been hypothesised that the L3 larval sheath, which is shed during percutaneous infection (exsheathment), diverts the immune system to allow successful infection and reinfection in endemic areas. However, the physicochemical properties of the L3 larval cuticle and sheath, which are in direct contact with the skin and its immune defences, are unknown. In the present study, we controlled exsheathment, to characterise the sheath and underlying cuticle surfaces in situ, using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). AFM revealed previously unseen surface area enhancing nano-annuli exclusive to the sheath surface and confirmed greater adhesion forces exist between cationic surfaces and the sheath, when compared to the emergent L3 cuticle. Furthermore, ToF-SIMS elucidated different chemistries between the surfaces of the cuticle and sheath which could be of biological significance. For example, the phosphatidylglycerol rich cuticle surface may support the onward migration of a lubricated infective stage, while the anionic and potentially immunologically active heparan sulphate rich deposited sheath could result in the diversion of immune defences to an inanimate antigenic nidus. We propose that our initial studies into the surface analysis of this hookworm provides a timely insight into the physicochemical properties of a globally important human pathogen at its infective stage and anticipate that the development and application of this analytical methodology will support translation of these findings into a biological context. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 11 12 e0005971 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Veeren M Chauhan David J Scurr Thomas Christie Gary Telford Jonathan W Aylott David I Pritchard The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Necator americanus, a haematophagous hookworm parasite, infects ~10% of the world's population and is considered to be a significant public health risk. Its lifecycle has distinct stages, permitting its successful transit from the skin via the lungs (L3) to the intestinal tract (L4 maturing to adult). It has been hypothesised that the L3 larval sheath, which is shed during percutaneous infection (exsheathment), diverts the immune system to allow successful infection and reinfection in endemic areas. However, the physicochemical properties of the L3 larval cuticle and sheath, which are in direct contact with the skin and its immune defences, are unknown. In the present study, we controlled exsheathment, to characterise the sheath and underlying cuticle surfaces in situ, using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). AFM revealed previously unseen surface area enhancing nano-annuli exclusive to the sheath surface and confirmed greater adhesion forces exist between cationic surfaces and the sheath, when compared to the emergent L3 cuticle. Furthermore, ToF-SIMS elucidated different chemistries between the surfaces of the cuticle and sheath which could be of biological significance. For example, the phosphatidylglycerol rich cuticle surface may support the onward migration of a lubricated infective stage, while the anionic and potentially immunologically active heparan sulphate rich deposited sheath could result in the diversion of immune defences to an inanimate antigenic nidus. We propose that our initial studies into the surface analysis of this hookworm provides a timely insight into the physicochemical properties of a globally important human pathogen at its infective stage and anticipate that the development and application of this analytical methodology will support translation of these findings into a biological context. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Veeren M Chauhan David J Scurr Thomas Christie Gary Telford Jonathan W Aylott David I Pritchard |
author_facet |
Veeren M Chauhan David J Scurr Thomas Christie Gary Telford Jonathan W Aylott David I Pritchard |
author_sort |
Veeren M Chauhan |
title |
The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. |
title_short |
The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. |
title_full |
The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. |
title_fullStr |
The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The physicochemical fingerprint of Necator americanus. |
title_sort |
physicochemical fingerprint of necator americanus. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005971 https://doaj.org/article/39488ca46682497887be880ed7a39509 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 11, Iss 12, p e0005971 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5720516?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005971 https://doaj.org/article/39488ca46682497887be880ed7a39509 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005971 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
e0005971 |
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1766344352449167360 |