MIGRATION OF THE FUNGAL PATHOGEN CANDIDA-ALBICANS ACROSS ENDOTHELIAL MONOLAYERS

Migration of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans across the endotheli al cell layer is considered a prerequisite for the invasion of multipl e organs occurring in systemic candidiasis, We developed an experiment al system in which C, albicans migrates from a luminal compartment acr oss a monolayer of bovine aortic endothelial cells on a porous filter support to an abluminal compartment, Ln this system, a C, albicans wil d-type strain (ATCC 10261) traverses the endothelial monolayer in a ti me-, glucose-, and cell concentration-dependent manner, A mutant deriv ative unable to grow and form hyphae (SGY-243) migrates at a reduced r ate, Concomitant to transendothelial migration, the permeability of th e endothelial monolayer for dextran diffusion markers is significantly increased, This increase in transendothelial exchange occurs before f ungal cells are detectable in the abluminal compartment and is time, g lucose, and cell concentration dependent, A mutant strain (hOG301) una ble to interact,vith endothelial cells does not alter endothelial perm eability, Thus, transendothelial migration of C, albicans is able to d amage the barrier function of an endothelial monolayer, Our experiment al system, which reflects key stages of transendothelial migration of C, albicans including adherence and passage across endothelial cells a nd the extracellular matrix, may be a useful model for comparisons of transendothelial migration characteristics of Candida strains.