Publications by authors named "Jorge L Higuita-Castro"

Spider venoms are composed, among other substances, of peptide toxins whose selectivity for certain physiological targets has made them powerful tools for applications such as bioinsecticides, analgesics, antiarrhythmics, antibacterials, antifungals and antimalarials, among others. Bioinsecticides are an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional agrochemicals. In this paper, the primary structure of an insecticidal peptide was obtained from the venom gland transcriptome of the ctenid spider (Transcript ID PhdNtxNav24).

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The knowledge about amino acid metabolism in trypanosomatids is a valuable source of new therapeutic targets. l-arginine is an essential amino acid for Leishmania parasites, and it participates in the synthesis of polyamines, a group of essential nutrients used for nucleic acids, proteins biosynthesis, and redox modulation necessary for proliferation. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of changes in the availability of this amino acid on promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes on U937 macrophages and showed that the absence of l-arginine in culture medium negatively influences the growth and infectivity of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, causing a decrease in the percentage of the infected cells and parasite load tested through light microscopy.

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