Chemical and physiological effects of Candida albicans toxin on tissues

Abstract

Today, with the prevalence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other immunosuppressed patients, "Candida albicans," specifically, has come to the forefront of medicine as the most common fungal pathogen. Once a human host's immune system becomes compromised "Candida albicans" cells begin to proliferate rapidly and are capable of causing the disease candidiasis (or candidosis) in virtually any tissue of the body. "Candida albicans" may initiate a pathologic state under such circumstances as: physiological changes such as pregnancy, newborns that have not yet established a resident flora, invasive procedures, catheters, immunosuppressive therapy, malignancy, granulocytopenia, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents, and especially the increased incidence of immune-deficiency diseases such as AIDS.

Previous research in this area has determined that a potent toxin is associated with "Candida albicans." However, neither the extent of the tissue damage nor the means of toxin's action had been assessed. Our research conducted thus far has shown that high infection and morality rates can be achieved in laboratory rats utilizing intraperitoneal inoculations of "Candida albicans" cells as well as the presumed toxin alone. In addition, out study has shown that the intraperitoneal mode of infection results in numerous lesions and even tumorous conditions in the infected rats. The study at hand involves the correlation of increases in acid phosphatase levels with changes in mitotic activity of infected rats.