| Popis: |
Avermectins are a family of 16-membered macrocyclic lactone natural product homologues produced by the soil microorganism Streptomyces avermitilis MA-4680 (NRRL 8165). These compounds are closely related to the milbemycins, another family of 16-membered macrocycles, which also have potent anthelmintic and insecticidal/acaricidal activity. Milbemycins were first reported by Mishima et al. (1975) for their acaricidal activity; however, the potent anthelmintic activity of these compounds was not discovered at that time. Avermectins were isolated at the Merck Research Laboratories from a soil sample collected from a golf course in Kawanas, Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, by researchers at the Kitasato Institute. The Anthelmintic activity of the avermectins was discovered in 1976 by Merck researchers (Burg et al. 1979; Egerton et al. 1979; Miller et al. 1979) in an in vivo screen based on the survival of the nematode Nematospiroides dubius in mice. Anthelmintic activity of the milbemycins was later discovered at Merck following testing of the individual members of the milbemycin family (Mrozik et al. 1983). |
