Relative pathogenicity of Candida tropicalis in rat tongue mucosa

The potential of C. tropicalis to colonize and infect rat tongue mucosa was demonstrated. Thirty female Sprague-Dawley rats were infected orally with three different strains of C. tropicalis. The animals were killed one and t hree weeks following the inoculation and sections of their tongue were stai ned with hematoxylin-eosin and Grocott stain. Histological changes were obs erved in the group of animals killed one week after inoculation and infecte d with C. tropicalis strain isolated from the crural ulcer of a diabetic pa tient. The most important finding was acute purulent myositis with the form ation of abscesses. The myositis was local without signs of spreading to th e surrounding tissue. Epithelium-penetrating hyphae observed in the Grocott -stained sections were relatively fewer and more sparsely distributed.