Effect of glucose supplementation on Candida albicans virulence in immunosuppressed Swiss albino mice (Mus musculus)

Abstract

We investigated the effect of dietary carbohydrate supplementation on Candida albicans colonization using an animal model and a Candida strain with both high phospholipase and proteinase activity. Normal and immunosuppressed mice were inoculated intraperitonially with C. albicans and were allowed free access to drinking water supplemented or not with glucose. Blood and different organs including liver, spleen, lung and kidney were aseptically collected every 72 h post-infection. The presence and the growth of C. albicans in blood and each organ were investigated. We also performed histopathologic investigations on each organ to assess tissue structure, the presence of C. albicans, and its form (blastospore or hyphae). The results showed that on the third day post-inoculation, the cfu of C. albicans per organ was significantly higher in mice inoculated by C. albicans and receiving the glucose as supplement (433 cfu/liver) comparatively to the group receiving C. albicans only (140 cfu/liver). Histological analysis revealed the presence of Candida cells in blastospore and hyphal form, particularly in the Candida-infected glucose-supplemented mice whose livers displayed oedema and leukocyte infiltration with a high density of polymorphonuclear cells. Overall results indicate that dietary glucose supplementation leads to higher rates of Candida growth and invasion. This suggests that glucose restriction could be a possible way to control C. albicans pathogenesis in vivo.