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Antifungal medication From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nystatin, sold under the brand name Mycostatin among others, is an antifungal medication.[1] It is used to treat Candida infections of the skin including diaper rash, thrush, esophageal candidiasis, and vaginal yeast infections.[1] It may also be used to prevent candidiasis in those who are at high risk.[1] Nystatin may be used by mouth, in the vagina, or applied to the skin.[1]
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| Trade names | Mycostatin, others[1] |
| AHFS/Drugs.com | Monograph |
| MedlinePlus | a682758 |
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| Routes of administration | Topical, vaginal, by mouth |
| Drug class | Polyene antifungal medication[1] |
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| Pharmacokinetic data | |
| Bioavailability | 0% on oral ingestion |
| Metabolism | None (not extensively absorbed) |
| Elimination half-life | Dependent upon GI transit time |
| Excretion | Fecal (100%) |
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| CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
| ECHA InfoCard | 100.014.317 |
| Chemical and physical data | |
| Formula | C47H75NO17 |
| Molar mass | 926.107 g·mol−1 |
| 3D model (JSmol) | |
| Melting point | 44–46 °C (111–115 °F) |
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Common side effects when applied to the skin include burning, itching, and a rash.[1] Common side effects when taken by mouth include vomiting and diarrhea.[1] During pregnancy use in the vagina is safe while other formulations have not been studied in this group.[1] It works by disrupting the cell membrane of the fungal cells.[1]
Nystatin was discovered in 1950 by Rachel Fuller Brown and Elizabeth Lee Hazen.[2] It was the first polyene macrolide antifungal.[3] It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.[4] It is available as a generic medication.[1] It is made from the bacterium Streptomyces noursei.[2] In 2022, it was the 236th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 1 million prescriptions.[5][6]
Skin, vaginal, mouth, and esophageal Candida infections usually respond well to treatment with nystatin. Infections of nails or hyperkeratinized skin do not respond well.[7]
When given parenterally, its activity is reduced due to presence of plasma.[8]
Oral nystatin is often used as a preventive treatment in people who are at risk for fungal infections, such as AIDS patients with a low CD4+ count and people receiving chemotherapy. It has been investigated for use in patients after liver transplantation, but fluconazole was found to be much more effective for preventing colonization, invasive infection, and death.[9] It is effective in treating oral candidiasis in elderly people who wear dentures.[10]
It is also used in very low birth-weight (less than 1500 g or 3 lb 5oz o) infants to prevent invasive fungal infections, although fluconazole is the preferred treatment. It has been found to reduce the rate of invasive fungal infections and also reduce deaths when used in these babies.[11]
Liposomal nystatin is not commercially available, but investigational use has shown greater in vitro activity than colloidal formulations of amphotericin B, and demonstrated effectiveness against some amphotericin B-resistant forms of fungi.[12] It offers an intriguing possibility for difficult-to-treat systemic infections, such as invasive aspergillosis, or infections that demonstrate resistance to amphotericin B. Cryptococcus is also sensitive to nystatin. Additionally, liposomal nystatin appears to cause fewer cases of and less severe nephrotoxicity than observed with amphotericin B.[12]
Bitter taste and nausea are more common than most other adverse effects.[7]
The oral suspension form produces a number of adverse effects including but not limited to:[13]
Both the oral suspension and the topical form can cause:
Too high of a dosage can potentially lead to additional side effects such as:[16]
Like amphotericin B and natamycin, nystatin is an ionophore.[17] It binds to ergosterol, a major component of the fungal cell membrane. When present in sufficient concentrations, it forms pores in the membrane that lead to K+ leakage, acidification, and death of the fungus.[18] Ergosterol is a sterol unique to fungi, so the drug does not have such catastrophic effects on animals or plants. However, many of the systemic/toxic effects of nystatin in humans are attributable to its binding to mammalian sterols, namely cholesterol. This is the effect that accounts for the nephrotoxicity observed when high serum levels of nystatin are achieved.[16] Despite the molecular similarities and differences of ergosterol and cholesterol, there is currently no consensus as to why nystatin has a higher binding affinity for ergosterol because it remains unclear how the nystatin pores are formed.[16] Researchers have concluded thus far that nystatin pores are formed from 4-12 nystatin molecules, with an unknown number of the necessary sterol interactions.[19]
Nystatin also impacts cell membrane potential and transport by lipid peroxidation.[20] Conjugated double bonds in nystatin's structure steal electron density from ergosterol in fungal cell membranes. Lipid peroxidation alters the hydrophilicity of the interior of channels in the membrane, which is necessary to transport ions and polar molecules. Disruption of membrane transport from nystatin results in rapid cell death. Lipid peroxidation by nystatin also contributes significantly to K+ leakage due to structural modifications of the membrane.[21]
Nystatin A1 (often called nystatin) is biosynthesized by a bacterial strain, Streptomyces noursei.[22] The structure of this active compound is characterized as a polyene macrolide with a deoxysugar D-mycosamine, an aminoglycoside.[22] The genomic sequence of nystatin reveals the presence of the polyketide loading module (nysA), six polyketide syntheses modules (nysB, nysC, nysI, nysJ, and nysK) and two thioesterase modules (nysK and nysE).[22] It is evident that the biosynthesis of the macrolide functionality follows the polyketide synthase I pathway.[23]
Following the biosynthesis of the macrolide, the compound undergoes post-synthetic modifications, which are aided by the following enzymes: GDP-mannose dehydratase (nysIII), P450 monooxygenase (nysL and nysN), aminotransferase (nysDII), and glycosyltransferase (nysDI).[22] The biosynthetic pathway is thought to proceed as shown to yield nystatin.
The melting point of nystatin is 44 - 46 °C.[24]
Like many other antifungals and antibiotics, nystatin has bacterial origin. It was isolated from Streptomyces noursei in 1950 by Elizabeth Lee Hazen and Rachel Fuller Brown, who were doing research for the Division of Laboratories and Research of the New York State Department of Health. Hazen found a promising micro-organism in the soil of a friend's dairy farm. She named it Streptomyces noursei, after Jessie Nourse, the wife of the farm's owner.[25] Hazen and Brown named nystatin after the New York State Health Department in 1954.[26] The two discoverers patented the drug, and then donated the $13 million in profits to a foundation to fund similar research.[27]
It is also used in cellular biology as an inhibitor of the lipid raft-caveolae endocytosis pathway on mammalian cells, at concentrations around 3 μg/ml.[citation needed]
In certain cases, a nystatin derivative has been used to prevent the spread of mold on objects such as works of art. For example, it was applied to wood panel paintings damaged as a result of the Arno River Flood of 1966 in Florence, Italy.[28]
Nystatin is also used as a tool by scientists performing "perforated" patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings of cells. When loaded in the recording pipette, it allows for measurement of electrical currents without washing out the intracellular contents, because it forms pores in the cell membrane that are permeable to only monovalent ions,[29] preferably cations such as sodium, potassium, lithium, and cesium.[30]
Another electrophysiological measurement that can be made is fusion event duration in a nystatin-ergosterol based system. Fusions are measured while the voltage is held constant, and is characterized by a spike in the current that then returns to the baseline current as the nystatin channels close. When present in smaller concentrations, nystatin momentarily forms pores that allows a vesicle fusion to occur more easily; that fusion then interrupts the pore stability and the nystatin and ergosterol disperse from each other.[31] Conversely, researchers have found that the half-life of these nystatin pores increase with an increased dosage level of nystatin to the membrane systems. This indicates a lower energy of both the lipid membrane and the ionophores when there is a higher concentration of nystatin.[32]
Due to its toxicity profile when high levels in the serum are obtained, no injectable formulations of nystatin are on the US market. However, injectable formulations have been investigated in the past.[12]
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