Candida albicans is an opportunistic dimorphic fungus that inhabits various host mucosal sites. It can cause both superficial and serious systemic disease. Conversion from the yeast to the hyphal form has been associated with increased virulence and mucosal invasiveness. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sodium diclofenac and aspirin on germs tube formation of different Candida albicans strains. Prostaglandins may play an important role in fungal colonization. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are inhibitors of the cyclooxygenase isoenzymes. These drugs specifically block the biosynthesis of mammalian prostaglandins by inhibiting one or both of cyclooxygenase isoenzymes. In tests for germ tube formation sodium diclofenac reduced the filamentation to the 12.5%- 5.1%. In the presence of aspirin the filamentation was reduced up to 85–45% depending on the tested strain. Our results suggest that cyclooxygenase-depending synthesis of fungal prostaglandins is important for morphogenesis and fungal virulence. Inhibitors of cyclooxygenase isoensymes (aspirin and diclofenac) are effective in decreasing germ tube formation of Candida albicans.
Microbial and opportunistic pathogens cause serious problem to human host by releasing different compounds which are involved in colonization, invasion or in alteration of immune process. In this study we propose ourselves to analyze the virulence profile of microorganisms involved in urinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis in order to compare the virulence mechanisms developed by these microorganisms. We assessed the virulence profile (motility, adhesion to HeLa cell line, biofilm formation, production of enzymes, antibiotic susceptibility) using phenotypic methods. The microbial strains isolated from urinary tract infections present a high ability to release amylases, caseinase, siderophore-like, half of them have present high motility and also were highly resistant to antibiotics, while the microbial strains isolated from bacterial vaginosis present a high ability to bind human epithelial cells and to release hemolyzin and DN-ase.
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