Candida Infection Biology – fungal armoury, battlefields ... - FINSysB

Poster number: 19
Resistance of Candida albicans biofilms formed on
catheters and probes and the discovery of a
chlamydospore in the biofilm
S.M.L. Seddiki a, , Z. Boucherit-Atmani a , K. Boucherit a ,
L. Sari-Belkharoubi a , D. Kunkel b
a Laboratoire antibiotique antifongique, physico- chimique synthèse et activité biologique.
Département de biologie, Faculté des sciences de la nature et de la vie et des sciences de
la terre et de l’univers, Université Abou bekr belkaid. BP 119, Imama 13000 Tlemcen.
ALGERIE; b Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc. P.O. Box 2008 Kailua, HI 96734, USA
In Algeria, many studies on bacterial biofilms were clarified but those of fungal
origin, particularly caused by the yeast Candida albicans remained unidentified.
This work was performed at the hospital Chabane Hamdoune of Maghnia (Algeria),
where 51 strains of C. albicans representing 16.94% of all samples taken were
isolated. They were collected from catheters and probes from different hospital
services with variable rates, and the most concerned service was the ICU (40.74%)
followed by the gynecology department (17.39 %), while that of general surgery
came in third (15.79 %). Testing the antifungal amphotericin B (AmB) showed clearly
that the sessile cells of C. albicans were much more resistant than their planktonic
counterparts (suspended cells), especially at the resistance increases during the
different phases of biofilm formation until it reaches its threshold at the ripening
stage (48 hrs). Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy of the isolated strains
in the laboratory proved the formation of biofilms on catheters by Candida albicans.
Surprisingly, observations revealed a new structure in these biofilms: The
chlamydospore.
keywords: Candida albicans; nosocomials infections; catheters; biofilms;
chlamydospore.
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