Inhibition of energy metabolism by 3-bromopyruvate in the hard tick Rhipicephalus microplus

The cattle tick R. microplus is the biggest obstacle to livestock rearing in tropical countries. It is responsible for billions of dollars in losses every year, affecting meat and milk production, beef and dairy cattle, and the leather industry. The lack of knowledge and strategies to combat the tic...

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Published inComparative biochemistry and physiology. Toxicology & pharmacology Vol. 218; pp. 55 - 61
Main Authors Braz, Valdir, Gomes, Helga, Galina, Antônio, Saramago, Luiz, Braz, Glória, da Silva Vaz, Itabajara, Logullo, Carlos, da Fonseca, Rodrigo Nunes, Campos, Eldo, Moraes, Jorge
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier Inc 01.04.2019
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Summary:The cattle tick R. microplus is the biggest obstacle to livestock rearing in tropical countries. It is responsible for billions of dollars in losses every year, affecting meat and milk production, beef and dairy cattle, and the leather industry. The lack of knowledge and strategies to combat the tick only increases the losses, it leads to successive and uncontrolled applications of acaricides, favouring the selection of strains resistant to commercially available chemical treatments. In this paper, we tested 3‑bromopyruvate (3‑BrPA), an alkylating agent with a high affinity for cysteine residues, on the R. microplus metabolism. We found that 3-BrPA was able to induce cell death in an assay using BME26 strain cell cultures derived from embryos, it was also able to reduce cellular respiration in developing embryos. 3-BrPA is a nonspecific inhibitor, affecting enzymes of different metabolic pathways in R. microplus. In our experiments, we demonstrated that 3-BrPA was able to affect the glycolytic enzyme hexokinase, reducing its activity by approximately 50%; and it strongly inhibited triose phosphate isomerase, which is an enzyme involved in both glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. Also, the mitochondrial respiratory chain was affected, NADH cytochrome c reductase (complex I–III) and succinate cytochrome c reductase (complex II–III) were strongly inhibited by 3-BrPA. Glutamate dehydrogenase was also affected by 3-BrPA, showing a gradual inhibition of activity in all the 3-BrPA concentrations tested. Altogether, these results show that 3-BrPA is a harmful compound to the tick organism. [Display omitted] •3-BrPA affects BME26 cells survival.•Metabolic enzymes are inhibited by exposure to 3-BrPA in tick cell line BME26.•3-BrPA induced inhibition of glycolysis and electron flux in respiratory chain.
ISSN:1532-0456
1878-1659
DOI:10.1016/j.cbpc.2018.12.010