Application Description
Spectrum: Amphotericin B is active against mammalian cells, fungi, viruses, and protozoa. Amphotericin B is not toxic to bacteria or viruses due to their lack of sterols.
Microbiology Applications: Amphotericin B is used as an antimycotic selective agent in several routinely used selective media formulations to inhibit the growth of background fungal growth.
According to the CDC SOP (DSR-052-04) for Viral Transport Medium (VTM), Amphotericin B is used at a final concentration of 0.5 µg/ml. Stock solution concentration is 250 µg/ml.
While the toxicity of Amphotericin B in mammalian cells is associated with an increase in intracellular calcium, in Candida albicans, it is not dependent on increased movement of calcium across the cell membrane or the presence of extracellular calcium (Rogers et al, 2003).
The isolation of influenza A and B viruses can be dramatically enhanced by adding Amphotericin B to the culture medium. It promotes viral uptake and endocytic processing of the virus particles (Roethl E et al (2011).
The following represents MIC susceptibility data for Amphotericin B against common fungal pathogens:
Candida albicans - 0.001 - 321 μg/ml
Candida krusei - 0.001 - 16 μg/ml
Coccidioides immitis - 0.0625 - 2 μg/ml
Cryptococcus neoformans - 0.2 - 39 μg/ml
Fusarium oxysporum - 0.75 - 125 μg/ml
Plant Biology Applications: Amphotericin B can be used to inhibit phytopathogenic fungi in vitro
Eukaryotic Cell Culture Applications: Amphotericin B can be used in eukaryotic cell culture to control or prevent contamination from fungi, viruses, and protozoa. Amphotericin B can be toxic to cell lines at high concentrations and should not be used at concentrations greater than 2.50 µg/mL. Amphotericin B has been used in in vitro to inhibit the generation of the scrapie isoform of the prion protein when studying transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (Mangé et al 2000).
Amphotericin B stimulates transcription and production of multiple mediators of the immune system (such as cytokines, chemokines, and prostaglandins) and ICAM-1 in murine and human cells (Arango et al, 2012).