Antifungal activity and toxicological parameters of 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonamides using alternative animal models.

AIM The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antifungal activity and toxicological parameters of 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives PH151 and PH153 using alternative animal models, to understand their behavior when subjected to in vivo experiments. METHODS AND RESULTS We used Toll-deficient Drosophila melanogaster to test the protective effect of compounds against C. albicans infection. Toxicological parameters were investigated in chicken and zebrafish embryos. PH151 and PH153 showed low toxicity and the treated flies with these compounds had a significantly higher survival rate than untreated flies after seven days of infection. The compounds did not cause interruption of chicken embryogenesis. Zebrafish embryos exposed to compounds showed dose-dependent toxicity. CONCLUSIONS The data supported the potential of PH151 and PH153 for the treatment of systemic candidiasis and demonstrated to be appropriate drug candidates for further studies using mammalian models.