Autor(es): Barbosa, Ana ; Araújo, Daniela ; Ribeiro, Eduarda ; Henriques, Mariana ; Silva, Sónia Carina
Data: 2020
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/65611
Origem: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Assunto(s): candidiasis; pathogenicity; environmental cues; virulence factor; Science & Technology
Candida albicans remains the most problematic of all Candida species, causing severe infections. Adaptation to different human body niches, such oral and urinary tracts, has been shown to be essential for survival and critical for virulence of C. albicans. Thus, the present work aimed to study the behaviour of C. albicans on simulated human body fluids (artificial saliva and urine) at different values of pH (pH 5.8 and 7) by determining its ability to develop two of the most important virulence factors: biofilms and filamentous forms. Under this study, it was demonstrated that C. albicans was able to grow as free cells and to develop biofilm communities composed of multiple cell types (yeast and elongated hyphal cells) on both simulated human body fluids and under different pH. It was interesting to note that the pH had little impact on C. albicans planktonic and biofilm growth, despite influencing the development of filamentous shapes in artificial saliva and urine. So, it was possible to infer that C. albicans presents a high plasticity and adaptability to different human body fluids, namely saliva and urine. These can be the justification for the high number of oral and urinary candidiasis in the whole world.
This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte and Daniela Eira Araújo PhD grant (SFRH/BD/121417/2016). The authors also acknowledge the project funding by the “02/SAICT/2017—Projetos de Investigação Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (IC and DT)—POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028893”.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
