J Med Microbiol 56 (2007), 688-693; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.47049-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644
Candida glabrata colonizes but does not often disseminate from the mouse caecum
Carol L. Wells1,2,
Mary-Alice Johnson3,
,
Michelle J. Henry-Stanley1 and
Catherine M. Bendel3
1 Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0374, USA
2 Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0374, USA
3 Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0374, USA
Correspondence
Carol L. Wells
wells002{at}umn.edu
Received 2 November 2006
Accepted 30 January 2007
Candida glabrata is the second or third most frequent cause of candidaemia. The gastrointestinal tract is considered to be a major portal of entry for systemic candidiasis, but relatively few studies have investigated the pathogenesis of C. glabrata. Experiments were designed to clarify the ability of C. glabrata to disseminate from the mouse intestinal tract. Following oral inoculation, C. glabrata readily colonized the caeca [approx. 107 cells (g caecum)1] of antibiotic-treated mice, but extraintestinal dissemination was not detected. Superimposing several mouse models of trauma and/or immunosuppression known to induce dissemination of Candida albicans and other intestinal microbes did not cause C. glabrata to disseminate often, although one exception was mice given high doses of dexamethasone for 4 days. These data support the hypothesis that the antibiotic-treated mouse intestine may be an epidemiological reservoir for C. glabrata and that this yeast tends to disseminate under specific clinical conditions.
Abbreviations: i.p., intraperitoneally; MLNs, mesenteric lymph nodes.
Present address: Alaska Neonatology Assoc. Inc., 3340 Providence Drive #366, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA.
Copyright © 2007 Society for General Microbiology.