EPITHELIAL ADHERENCE OF CANDIDA-ALBICANS IS ENHANCED BY PASSAGE THROUGH RAT SMALL-INTESTINE

Seven Candida albicans isolates (four from patients with diarrhoea and three from healthy persons) underwent two passages through rat ileal loop (RIL) to see the effect of consecutive passages on the adherence to rat intestinal epithelium. The isolates from patients with diarrhoe a showed a significant enhancement in adherence after the first passag e (1.95x10(4) cfu/cm(2) versus 3.67x10(4) cfu/cm(2)). There was no fur ther increase between the first passage (3.67x10(4) cfu/cm(2)) and the second one (3.61x10(4) cfu/cm(2)). A similar pattern was observed wit h the three non-diarrhoeal isolates. Animal passage of this fungus pro bably leads to better interactions between the cell surfaces causing t he enhanced adherence.