title: Esculetin antagonizes iron-chelating agents and increases the virulence of Listeria monocytogenes.
abstract: Iron is an essential compound for the growth and virulence of Listeria monocytogenes. In extracellular environments, iron often requires a siderophore to be acquired by microorganisms. Although it does not produce siderophores, L. monocytogenes can use some exogenous bacterial or fungal siderophores as well as a number of animal or plant o-diphenol compounds to overcome growth inhibition by the iron-chelating agents tropolone and 8-hydroxyquinoline. Esculin, a plant glycoside, can be hydrolysed by L. monocytogenes to the o-diphenol aglucon, esculetin. The latter neutralized in vitro growth inhibition induced by the iron-chelating agents. Furthermore, when injected into infected mice, esculetin enhanced mortality in a dose-dependent manner and increased bacterial counts in spleen induced by sublethal doses of L. monocytogenes. Esculetin apparently functioned as a siderophore for L. monocytogenes in murine tissues.
authors.affiliation: Département des Sciences de l'Aliment, Université Louis Pasteur, U.F.R. des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, Illkirch, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coulanges
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: André
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Vidon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D007502:Iron Chelating Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007505:Iron-Dextran Complex / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D051379:Mice; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology; D014468:Umbelliferones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014774:Virulence / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D007502:Iron Chelating Agents; D014468:Umbelliferones; D007505:Iron-Dextran Complex; C007628:esculetin