Candida albicansand the fungicidal activity of the blood

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Experiments on the killing of the young synchronous blastospores of C. albicans in blood from normal subjects and diabetic patients are described. With inocula of between 10 and 100 young blastospores about 75% of the inoculum was killed in 5 hr., and as the concentration of the inoculum was increased an increase in the percentage survival occurred. The killing of propagules with hyphal lengths up to 200 μ was within the same range as that for small blastospores. The capacity of the blood to kill propagules with hyphal lengths greater than 200 μ rapidly decreased with increasing length of the hyphae. Visual observations on the phagocytosis of C. albicans by polymorphonuclear leucocytes are described. It is shown that over 90% of suspensions of synchronous blastospores are killed by the leucocytes in autologous plasma, but when the plasma is treated with zymosan or Candida cell wall antigens less than 50% of the inoculum is killed. Adsorbtion of serum with a C. albicans somatic antigen had little effect on the killing of C. albicans by the leucocytes. The role of the serum complement in the killing of C. albicans is discussed.