Soraya M.Z.M.D. Ferreira
◽
Hellem C. Carneiro
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Rosemeire B. Alves
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Ana Carolina S. Batista
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Eufranio N. da Silva Junior
◽
...
Cryptococcosis is a fungal disease of global significance for which new effective treatments
are needed. The conjugation of the synthetic antimicrobial peptide fragment UBI 31-38 to a
coumarin derivative showed to be an effective approach for the design of a novel anticryptococcal
agent. In addition to antifungal activity, the conjugate exhibited intense fluorescence, which could be
valuable for mechanistic investigations of this molecule. In this work, we studied the photophysical
properties of the conjugate and confocal scanning laser microscopy was used to inspect the distribution
of the peptide-coumarin conjugate in Cryptococcus cell. The synergism of this compound with
amphotericin B or fluconazole against C. gattii and C. neoformans strains was also investigated. The
results indicated that the fluorescent conjugate alone as well as its combination with amphotericin B
are promising tools against cryptococcosis.
A new coumarin derivative, 4-acetatecoumarin, with antifungal activity and association study against Aspergillus spp.
