Protozoological Approaches to the Cellular Basis of Mammalian Stress Repair

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses water-soluble low-molecular-weight metabolites; enzymes and informational macromolecules only figure as they govern functions of related low-molecular-weight metabolites. Protozoology has a part to play here. For instance, tetrahydrobiopterin, a cofactor for the syntheses of catecholamines and indoleamines, is a growth factor for trypanosomatid flagellates. A nonpathogenic trypanosomatid, Crithidia fasciculata , is a widely used analytical reagent for the biopterin series. The chapter tries to coordinate clues about spare parts, regulatory metabolities, enzyme cofactors, cellular mediators, growth factors, etc. that may be derived from studies of our unicellular fellow animals: protozoa. The inspection of the panorama of protozoa will suffice to show how small the sampling of protozoa is pressed into biomedical research services. The protozoal panel might later include the colorless marine dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii : hardy, fast-growing, and marine. Some isolates grow well in simple defined media; some have marked phagotrophic proclivities. The protozoa singled out in this chapter are, as practically taken for granted (sterility-test results favorable), gnotobiotic and, hence, free of the perturbations in ordinary rodent laboratory models contributed by fluctuations in intestinal syntheses of vitamins or other substances influencing growth.