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Cytopathic Effects of Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic Species of Candida on Cultured Mouse Epithelial Cells: Relation to the Growth Rate and Morphology of the Fungi
Abstract
Summary
The cytopathic effects of standard inocula (30,000 blastospores per ml) of Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, C. stellatoidea, C. krusei, C. pseudotropicalis, C. parapsilosis and C. guilliermondii (isolated from man) on murine renal epithelial cells in culture were compared with those of C. cacaoi, C. diddensii, C. kefyri, C. blankii, C. ingens and C. shehatae (isolated from non-human sources). The nature of the changes in the mammalian cells, and the extent of their destruction, were shown to be correlated with the growth rate and with the proportion of mycelium in the growing fungi. The presence of mammalian cells induced filamentous change in some species.
These experiments demonstrate the greater importance of the M phase in the progression of Candida lesions, because of the more widespread involvement of cells by organisms with rapid growth rates, but they do not demonstrate a qualitative difference in the cytopathic effects of the M and Y phases. They suggest that in vivo the Y phase may initiate infection, as it does experimentally, and that the M phase is associated with the more rapidly growing species and with extension of the lesion. The filamentous phase may be induced by exposure of the fungi to cellular exudates or transudates.
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© Society for General Microbiology, 1969