Quantitative Untersuchungen der fungistatischen Aktivität menschlichen Serums gegen Candida albicans

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Abstract
To a nutrient medium having a concentration of 2% maltose and 0.5% neopeptone, serum is added. This mixture is sown with a standardized suspension ofC. albicans quantitated by nephelometry and incubated in an agitating incubator for 20 hrs. at a temperature of 26-270C. The development of the organisms was measured from the 10th-20th hrs. of incubation at 2 hourly intervals by nephelometric examination of the opacity of the cultures. Media with phenol in concentrations varying between 0.1 and 0.6 parts/1000 were used as standards. The growth curves obtained with serum were compared with growth curves in phenole media with variable concentrations of phenole, so that it was possible to express the candidostatic level of the serum in equivalent parts/1000 of phenole. If all conditions are kept constant, it is possible to obtain figures which express the candidostatic activity of the serum in a given patient. In 114 subjects examined, the candidostatic activity of the serum is (on average) about 0.4 parts/1000 phenole-equivalent. Variability is considerable; the limits of the values obtained lie between 0.12 and 0.54 parts/1000 phenole-equivalent; these values can be related to an attack by C. albicans. In 5 cases of mycoses due to Candida, the candidostatic titer of the serum lay between 0.2 and 0.28 parts/1000 phenole-equivalent. In 11 other patients who had a lowered candidostatic titer (below 0.3 parts/1000 phenole-equivalent), a massive growth of C. albicans was found regularly in cultures of stools and tongue scrapings. If the candidostatic titer of the serum exceeds 0.3 parts/1000 phenole equivalent, it maybe possible to eliminate Candida infection; if the titer is below a limiting value, a secondary infection of the patient with C. albicans is possible.