Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Segal.
Immunoglobulin G(IgG), immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) fractions of sera from patients with candidal vaginitis were tested by the immune adherence and agglutination tests for presence of anti-Candida albicans antibodies. The anti-Candida albicans antibodies were found in the IgG and IgM fractions.
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The agglutination, immunodiffusion and immune adherence tests were performed on sera from 60 women with clinically diagnosed vaginitis. Candida albicans was isolated from the vaginal discharge of 36 of them (Group 1) and not from the other 24 (Group 2). Fifty eight patients reacted positively in the agglutination test. No differentiation could be made between the two groups on the basis of this test (number of positive sera and height of titer). No antibodies could be detected by the immunodiffusion test (except for one positive serum). The immune adherence test demonstrated a difference between the two groups, which was expressed both in the total of positive reacting sera and in titer of antibodies.
The immune adherence reaction was shown in experimental candidiasis. This phenomenon has not been previously described for candidiasis, to the best of our knowledge. Forty-eight sera of guinea pigs inoculated with a single or several inoculations of live Candida albicans were tested at different time intervals after inoculation for anti C. albicans antibodies detectable by the immune adherence reaction. From the 14th day after inoculation, a positive immune adherence reaction was observed with titer and strength increasing as time passed after inoculation and as the number of inoculations increased. All the sera were tested parallely in agglutination and indirect mast cell degranulation tests. The significance of the data obtained is discussed.
Twenty isolates of Prototheca filamenta, Prototheca moriformis, Prototheca stagnora, Prototheca wickerhamii, and Prototheca zopfii were tested for in vitro susceptibility to five commonly used antifungal agents: amphotericin B, 5-fluorocytosine, griseofulvin, miconazole, and nystatin. The results revealed resistance to griseofulvin of all the Prototheca isolates tested and an inhibitory effect on P. filamenta by high 5-fluorocytosine concentrations (minimal inhibitory concentration [MIC] = 12.5 to 100 mug/ml; minimal fungicidal or algacidal concentration [MFC/MAC] = 50 to 100 mug/ml). P. filamenta isolates were also susceptible to miconazole (MIC = 0.1 to 0.5 mug/ml, MFC/MAC = 0.5 to 1 mug/ml); isolates of the other Prototheca species varied in regard to miconazole activity from susceptible to resistant (MIC = 1 - >100 mug/ml, MFC/MAC = 5 - >100 mug/ml). The Prototheca isolates revealed an in vitro susceptibility to the polyene antifungal agents, amphotericin B, and nystatin (MIC = 0.09 to 3.12 mug/ml and 0.19 to 12.5 mug/ml, respectively; MFC/MAC = 0.19 to 25 mug/ml and 0.75 to 25 mug/ml, respectively).
The rapid system developed by Huppert et al. (1975) for the identification of yeasts based on assimilation and fermentation patterns and on germ tube and pseudohyphal production was evaluated in a comparative study with conventional procedures. The 95 test cultures were members of the genera Candida, Cryptococcus, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Torulopsis, and Trichosporon. The study revealed that approximately 94% of the isolates were correctly identified by the rapid method in comparison with the standard method. With the rapid method identification was accomplished in 72h, and with the conventional procedures identification was completed in 2 weeks. Although it was difficult with some isolates to obtain definitive speciation by the rapid method, this method promises to be especially useful in clinical laboratories for the identification of yeasts of medical importance. Modifications were made in the procedure of Huppert et al. (1975) to improve the reading of reactions. Commercial media and a disk dispenser to make the method more useful were also investigated.
15 patients who suffered from severe and prolonged external Candida ocular infections and who had not responded to Mycostatin and/or Amphotericin B treatment, were successfully treated with 5-Fluorocytosine administered topically or combined topical-orally. In all patients, a cure was achieved after a treatment period of approximately 6 months. No side effects were observed and no resistance to the drug developed.
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Mild and severe experimental ocular infections in rabbits' eyes were induced by inoculation of Candida albicans with or without addition of dexamycin drops. These rabbits were treated with 5-Fluorocytosine, topically, orally and in a combined topical and oral manner. The topical treatment was effective only in mild infections. Severe infections responded to oral and especially to combined oral-tropical treatment.
Inoculation into foot-pads of guinea-pigs of a living suspension of Candida albicans together with Complete Freund's Adjuvant, provoked a hypersensitive state, characterized by: 1) positive skin tests; 2) direct degranulation of peritoneal mast cells when exposed in vitro to the antigen; and 3) homologous "mast cell sensitizing antibodies" detected by the "indirect mast cell degranulation test". The mast cell sensitizing antibodies were heat labile, and their activity could not be restored by complement.
A single dose of the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans (CA), mixed with Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA), and inoculated into guinea-pig foot-pads, provoked the productions of homologous mast cell sensitizing antibodies (MCSAb) present in the psiI-globulin fraction only, and of agglutinins localized in the same fraction. Heterologous MCSAb and skin-sensitizing antibodies detectable by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) were constantly absent. These facts are in contradiction to results of previous experiments performed with other antigens; which after similar inoculation elicited production of heterologous MCSAb attaching themselves on rat mast cells (MC) and present in the psi2 fast moving globulin, homologous MCSAb localized in the psiI-globulin and in the psi2 fast moving globulin, and PCA antibodies. The immunogenicity of CA is discussed.
A group of guinea pigs was inoculated into the foot pads with a single dose of Candida albicans in complete Freund's adjuvant, while another group was similarly inoculated once in the foot pads but also several times intramuscularly, with Candida alone. All guinea pigs were bled at different intervals after immunization and sera were separated chromatographically into IgG and IgM fractions. In order to study the antigenic relationships as reflected by immunoglobulin-class specificity, IgG and IgM fractions and whole sera obtained from guinea pigs differently immunized, were tested for the presence of agglutinins against C. albicans, six other species of Candida, and species of the ascosporogenous genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces and Schizosaccharomyces. The results show that (1) only IgG fractions of the different sera prepared contained the specific anti-C. albicans antibodies; (2) IgG and IgM fractions of the sera obtained from a single inoculation did not reveal a specific pattern expressing antigenic relationships of the yeast studied, and (3) the IgM fractions of the sera obtained from several inoculations had a more homogenous pattern of reactivity, since mainly these contained the agglutinins against the ascosporogenous yeast species.
In vitro sensitivity to 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) of 35 Candida strains (14 C. albicans, 10 C. tropicalis, 5 C. parapsilosis, 2 C. guilliermondii, 2 C. krusei, 2 C. pseudotropicalis), isolated from the eyes of patients suffering from various external ocular inflammations who had not been treated with 5-FC, was tested and compared to that of standard Candida species. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) of 5-FC for the strains isolated from ocular infections ranged from 0.06 to 1.95 mug/ml and from 0.24 to 7.81 mug/ml, respectively, indicating that no primary resistant strains to 5-FC were found in this series.
In 53 out of 313 patients suffering from longstanding inflammations of the outer eye or dacryocanaliculitis, not yielding to the obligate treatment with antibiotics and steroids, yeasts were isolated and regarded as the causative agents. Among the yeasts, different Candida species were prevalent, with C. albicans and C. guillermondii at the top. An obstinate, superificial epithelial and subepithelial punctate keratitis appeared to represent an entity pathognomonic of a yeast infection. Eradication of the yeasts and cure of the inflammation was achieved only by intensive prolonged treatment with Mycostatin or amphotericin B.
Deoxyribonucleic acid-ribonucleic acid (DNA-RNA) hybridization technique was used to investigate nucleic acid homologies among acid Candida albicans, Syringospora albicans and the Leucosporidium species (L. nivalis, L. capsuligenum, L. frigidum, L. gelidum, L. antarcticum). The nucleic acid homology between C. albicans, S. albicans and the Leucosporidium species was very low (ranging from about 7-11% for C. albicans and 8-12-5% for S. albicans), indicating the unrelatedness of C. albicans to the basidiomycetous yeast genus Leucosporidium.
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