Autophagy induced by monensin serves as a mechanism for programmed death in Eimeria tenella

Monensin (Mon), the first ionophoric antibiotic has widely been used for the treatment and prevention of coccidiosis in poultry until recently, however, at present; its efficacy has been compromised with the emergence of many Mon-resistant strains. Knowledge of the mode of the action of anti-parasitic agents is as important as for other antimicrobials, especially for discovery and long term use of the existing drugs. However, little is known about anti-parasitic drug: monensin's, mechanism of action and physiological alteration in Eimeria tenella. In this study, we explored Mon effects on the viability of Mon-Sensitive GZ (MonS-GZ) and Mon-Resistant GZ (MonR-GZ) Eimeria tenella strains using trypan blue staining and investigated Mon-induced autophagy using Western blotting, indirect immunofluorescence assay, and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that monensin leads to programmed death of E. tenella parasites by inducing autophagy as a mechanism of anticoccidial action. Mon-induced autophagy was indicated by the decreased sporozoites survival rate, ATG8 over expression and localization, and intracellular vacuolar structures and autophagosomes formation in MonS-GZ strain while in MonR-GZ strains autophagy pathway was not triggered. The autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) effectively blocked programmed cell death and saved the MonS-GZ sporozoites. These findings indicated that autophagy serves as a potentially important mechanism of E. tenella cell death in response to Mon and disruption of the autophagy pathway may lead to emergence of drug resistance against this anti-parasitic drug.