This study was conducted to compare between two types of opportunistic fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus and Penicillium chrysogenum) in concerning their pathogenicity after intraperitoneal inoculation of mice. A total of twenty four male albino mice were used in this study which divided equally into 3 groups, The first and second groups were inoculated with 0.2ml of 1x 107spores/ml of A. fumigatus and P. chrysogenum  intraperitonially respectively, while the third group was inoculated with normal saline which served as control group. All animals were monitored for 2 weeks after infection. The blood samples were collected by heart puncture after 18 days post infection to isolate of serum that used for biochemical analysis of liver and kidney functions. After that, all animals were sacrificed. Some internal organs of infected groups (liver, kidney, intestine, heart, spleen and lung) were taken to study the histopathological changes. It was found that there was severe histopathological changes in studied organs of infected mice particularly liver, kidney, spleen and intestine which corresponding with significant variation (p<0.01) in enzyme activities of liver and kidney like (Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Urea and Creatinine). Also, It was found that P. chrysogenum had more impact on these enzymes (15.65 ± 0.78, 135.23 ± 8.75 and 0.928 ± 0.02 respectively) than A. fumigatus (21.70 ± 1.04, 57.91 ± 5.99 and 0.587 ± 0.03 respectively). Therefore, the present study indicated that fungi present in the environment can induce severe inflammation reach to tissue damage in most vital internal organs So, further studies should be performed to determine the specific virulence factors and active components, which are responsible for pathogenesis of A. fumigatus and P. chrysogenum in spite of the fact that P. chrysogenum can produce antibiotic.

β-glucan is a polysaccharide with β-glycosidic linkages and it's a major structural component of various yeast cells. The goal of this research was to focus on the characterization of β-glucan extracted from both types of yeasts (Saccharomyces cereviseae and Candida albicans).The extraction of β-glucan depend on acid-base hydrolysis method and the yield of β-glucan extracted from Saccharomyces cereviseae was 63.35gm (28.15%) while the yield of βglucan extracted from Candida albicans was 9.35gm (4.15%) from 225gm of both yeasts also the results explained that High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of extracted β-glucan had similarity to the standard of β-glucan in major peak 3.22 of liquid samples extracted from two types of yeasts. On the other hand, Scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that standard of β-glucan was similar to both β-glucan extracted from Saccharomyces cereviseae and Candida albicans in size of particles in range (1.11-2.60µm) and no presence of cell wall trace but different in morphology.

This study was performed in isolation of some pathogenic fungi from milk of apparently healthy cows. Eighty milk samples were collected from four quarters of twenty cows in the Abu Ghraib. Each sample was cultured on Sabouraud dextrose Agar at 28±2 ºC for 4-7 days. The most predominant mold and yeast were Acremonium spp. and Rhodotorula spp. that had used in the experimental infection. The number of experimental mice used in this study was 30 which divided into three equal groups. The 1 st group was infected with Acremonium spp. by injection of 0.2 ml of 2*10 7 conidia/ml intraperitoneally. The 2 nd group was inoculated with same dose and route with Rhodotorula spp., while the 3 rd group served as control group. All mice were sacrificed after 2 weeks of injection, Serum was obtained for biochemical analysis of hepatic and renal enzymes. Some of internal organs of infected groups were taken for histopathological study. The result recorded that the total percentage of fungal infection was 53 (66.3%) of these Acremonium spp. 9 (24.3%) and Rhodotorula spp. 7 (43.8%). Histopathological sections of the 1 st group showed severe lesions in kidney than 2 nd group although both groups showed lesions in most internal organs. Blood biochemical results showed the yeast has highest significant differences on ALT levels, while the mold has highest effect on serum creatinine, with insignificant difference on urea. In conclusion it could be said that in spite of Acremonium spp. and Rhodotorula spp. are considered as contaminant fungi, but they can cause disseminated mycosis in mice.

No abstract

This study was undertaken to prepare Heat Killed Candida albicans Antigen (HK-CA) and to investigate it's effect on elicitation of Delayed-type Hypersensitivity (DTH) and protection from virulent Candida challenged in mice, and described the major effect of Nocardia on the immunogenicity of this Ag.Four groups of 6 males Swiss mice for each group were immunized intraperitonialy(I.p)for 10 days at 5 doses(one day intervals) with 1x108 HK-CA plus Nocardia cell sap as adjuvant(CFA),the second group immunized with HK-CA plus Freund incomplete adjuvant,the third group immunized with HK-CA only and the fourth group treated with normal saline. Another group of 6 animals was immunized intranasally(I.n)with HK-CA only with the same doses as previously.Two weeks following the last application of Ag,50% of animals(3 for each group) were challenged intravenously(I.v)with 106 viable C.albicans to assess the protection rate.and the other 50% of mice were used to evaluate the development of DTH response in each immunization methods.Greatly percentage survival was observed when mice immunized with HK-CA plus CFA,which challenged with 106 live C. albicans in comparison with other groups.And also all animals of the 1st group developed highly significant DTH response which was supporyed by marked infiltration and aggregation of lymphocyte in some internal organs that indicate it's intensive involvement in immune response,while in the other groups,mononuclear cells infiltration were present with moderate to less intensive. Clearly,HK-CA in conjunction with Nocardia cell sap as adjuvant afforded significant levels of protection,Furthermore,the noval approach of I.n immunization could used for the development of an effective vaccine