• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.407-415
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• 1986

This study investigated whether a correlation exists between environmental physical and biochemical factors and adherence of Candida albicans to human buccal epithelial cells by using normal and UV-irradiated strains. The results were as follows: 1. The percentage of germ tube forming activities of normal Candida albicans was 91.5% and UV-irradiated Candida albicans was 15.0%. The $LD_{50}$ of normal strains in mice were $1.0{\times}10\;cells/ml$, but could not be observed in the UV-irradiated strains even with $1.0{\times}10\;cells/ml$. It demonstrated that the virulence is decreased in the UV-irradiated strain. 2. The adherence of normal Candida albicans to human buccal epithelial cells($166{\pm}29{\sim}207{\pm}17\;cells$/100 epithelial cells) was significantly greater than UV-irradiated Candida albicans($99{\pm}21{\sim}131{\pm}25\;cells$/100 epithelial cells). 3. Candida albicans cultured at $37^{\circ}C$ adhered to buccal epithelial cells($166{\pm}16{\sim}207{\pm}17\;cells$/100 epithelial cells) in greater numbers than cultured at $25^{\circ}C$($80{\pm}15{\sim}143{\pm}22\;cells$/100 epithelial cells). 4. On comparison of the adherence of viable and nonviable(heat-killed) Candida albicans to human buccal epithelial cells, the nonviable Candida albicans demonstrated poorer adherence than viable Candida albicans. 5. Adherence in vitro of Candida albicans to human epithelial cells appeared to be effected by the pH. The adherence ability was maximum increased at pH 7.0($187{\pm}22\;cells$/100 epithelial cells) other than experimental pH. 6. The adherence was proportional to the incubation time and the Candida cell concentration in the suspension. 7. A strong correlation was shown between germ tube forming activity and increased adherence of Candida albicans to human epithelial cells, indicating that germ tube forming activity were responsible for candidal virulence.