STUDIES ON THE ROLE OF CARBOHYDRATES IN THE ADHERENCE OF MALASSEZIA-PACHYDERMATIS TO CANINE CORNEOCYTES IN-VITRO

A panel of four lectins was used to investigate the role of carbohydra tes in the adherence of Malassezia pachydermatis to canine corneocytes in vitro. Pretreatment of canine corneocytes with concanavalin A (10 mu g ml(-1)) inhibited (P < 0.01) the adherence of one out of six M. p achydermatis strains. This effect was abrogated by pre-incubating conc anavalin A with its hapten inhibitor (6% methyl alpha-D-mannopyranosid e), suggesting that mannosyl-bearing carbohydrate residues on the epit helial cells serve as ligands for adhesins expressed by this strain. H owever, treatment of corneocytes with soybean, wheat germ and gorse le ctin, and pretreatment of the yeast cells with either of the four lect ins had no reproducible effect on the adherence of two strains.