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

Using zebrafish to study Candida albicans-mediated
systemic candidiasis in vivo
Thomas Evans, Simon Tazzyman, Timothy J.A. Chico, Martin H. Thornhill,
Craig Murdoch.
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Candida albicans is a common oral opportunistic pathogen that causes
mucocutaneous infections and rarely systemic candidiasis, a nosocomial infection
which involves the haematogenous spread of Candida to multiple organs and is
associated with high mortality. To cause tissue damage C.albicans must bind to the
endothelium of blood vessels, leave the circulation and invade tissues. However,
little is known about the mechanisms involved in these processes. This study aimed
to use transparent embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an in vivo infection model
in conjunction with an in vitro flow adhesion assay to study how C.albicans bind to
the endothelium, leave the circulation and invade tissues. Suspensions of viable or
treated C.ablicans were flowed over monolayers of endothelial cells and adherent
Candida counted. Zebrafish were injected with C.albicans and mortality determined
after 18h. Time-lapse confocal microscopy using fluorescent C.albicans and blood
vessels was performed to image dissemination. Viable C.albicans bound to
endothelium significantly (p