The Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol 10, Issue 3 373-376, Copyright © 1977 by Society for General Microbiology
Depression of lactose hydrolysis by yeasts
D. A. Berman and R. J. Sobieski
To investigate the role that the known disaccharidase depression may play
in the aetiology of infant gastroenteritis caused by Candida albicans, C.
albicans and the rarely pathogenic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae were studied
by three different methods. Both types of yeast significantly depressed the
lactose-hydrolysis activity of beta-galactosidase, and both depressed
lactose hydrolysis in the ligated small intestine of infant rabbits, either
in intact animals allowed to survive for 10 h, or in a physiological bath
for 20 h. The depression of lactose activity was not temperature dependent;
living and inactivated yeast preparations produced comparable degrees of
depression of enzyme activity. It is concluded that the depression of
lactose hydrolysis is not a virulence factor of C. albicans, but
contributes to the often observed disaccharide intolerance associated with
candida gastroenteritis in infants.
