Effect of various antibiotics on gastrointestinal colonization and dissemination byCandida albicans

Abstract

Mice were treated orally with various antibiotics to determine which members of the indigenous intestinal microflora normally suppress C. albicans colonization and dissemination from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The mice were given penicillin, clindamycin, vancomycin, erythromycin or gentamicin for 3 days, and then challenged orally with C. albicans. Penicillin, clindamycin, and vancomycin, but not gentamicin or erythromycin, decreased the total anaerobic bacterial populations in the animals'' ceca, and increased the enteric bacilli population levels. All 3 of the former antibiotics allowed C. albicans to proliferate in the gut and, subsequently, disseminate from the GI tract to visceral organs. The ability of C. albicans to associate with intestinal mucosal surfaces was also tested. Antibiotics which reduced anaerobic population levels, but not enteric bacilli or aerobes, also predisposed animals to mucosal association by C. albicans. The strictly anaerobic bacterial populations which predominate in the gut ecosystem are probably responsible for the inhibition of C. albicans adhesion, colonization and dissemination from the GI tract.