The pathogenesis of acute systemic candidiasis in a susceptible inbred mouse strain

Abstract

The histopathological features of the acute infection by Candida albicans in susceptible CBA/H mice, as well as its dissemination in various organs has been examined. The brain, in which the localization of blastospores is minimal, is the organ most severely affected. A significant deposition of blastospores occurs in lungs, liver, spleen and kidney, but of these organs, only in the kidneys is infection established. A transient myocarditis follows the minor blastospore deposition that occurs in the heart. Infection in the affected organs is characterized by abscess formation while in the brain the process is complicated by the development of hydrocephalus and a pachymeningitis that erodes the petrous temporal and involves the vestibular apparatus. There is also infection of the retinae with an accompanying endophthalmitis.

Murine candidiasis: Cell‐mediated immune responses correlate directly with susceptibility and resistance to infection

“…These results correlate precisely with the innate susceptibility and resistance of the two strains, as determined by histopathological assessment of tissue lesions (11). However, because tissue lesions become established well before the development of any inflammatory or immune responses against the organism (20), it is likely that the different T cell responses in immune BALB/c and CBA/H mice reflect a difference in the development of immunological memory in the two strains. It is pertinent here to note that the responses to primary challenge of both BALB/c-H-2'< and CBA/H (H-2'<) lymph nodes are almost identical (10,11).…”

Genetic control of suceptibility to Candida albicans in susceptible A/J and resistant C57BL/6J mice

“…infection, C. albicans deposition per milligram of organ weight is highest in the lungs, followed by intermediate levels in the liver, spleen, and kidneys, and low levels in the brain and heart. 40,41 It is therefore notable that the major sites of C. albicans replication in A/J at the 48 h time point are the kidney, brain, and heart. The ability of the liver, spleen, and lungs to control fungal replication despite relatively high levels of initial infection may reflect the presence of resident macrophages in these organs that are able to contain and control infection in the absence of a C5-induced recruitment of neutrophils.…”

Neutrophil depletion increases susceptibility to systemic and vaginal candidiasis in mice, and reveals differences between brain and kidney in mechanisms of host resistance

“…The relative contributions of specific and non-specific factors have been explored most extensively in mouse models of the infection, which reproduce closely in nature and severity the lesions seen in the human disease (Papadimitriou & Ashman, 1986). Neutrophils are an important component of the host response to systemic C. albicans infections in mice (Hurtrel e t al., 1980b;Jensen e t al., 1994;van 't Wout e t al., 1988;Vecchiarelli e t al., 1989), and their recruitment to the site of infection is mediated by chemotactic factors produced by the activation of complement.…”