The effects of temperature, incubation atmosphere, and medium composition on arthrospore formation in the fungus Trichophyton mentagrophytes

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Abstract
Several growth conditions were found to allow abundant arthrospore formation in T. mentagrophytes. These included growth at 32–37 °C on Sabouraud's medium (1% neopeptone, 4% glucose) and growth at temperatures below 32 °C solely on neopeptone or other complex peptide sources without the addition of glucose, a supplementary carbon source. Sabouraud's medium did not allow arthropsore formation at 30 °C under normal atmospheric conditions. However, if oxygen tension were reduced by partial replacement of air with either N2 orCO2 arthrosporulation did occur on Sabouraud's medium at 30 °C. The rate of germ tube elongation was lower under those conditions which supported arthrospore formation, suggesting a correlation between decreased rate of hyphal extension and arthrospore formation. Stimulation of arthrospore formation by sublethal concentrations of several antifungal agents tends to support this hypothesis.