Experimental Candida albicans infection in conventional mice and germfree rats

Abstract

Swiss-Webster white mice were i.v. infected with various doses of C. albicans, and the viable units in their spleens, livers, lungs and kidneys were determined at various intervals after challenge. C. albicans multiplied to a greater extent in the kidney than in the spleen, lung or liver. The infection in mice was chronic; increasing numbers of C. albicans were observed in their kidneys until about 17-24 days postchallenge. Clearance of C. albicans from infected kidneys was not symmetrical, since the number of viable C. albicans in 1 kidney did not coincide with the viable counts observed in the opposite kidney of that same animal. Male and female mice did not differ in their overall susceptibility (LD50 test) or in the number of viable C. albicans in the kidneys at various time intervals after infection. C. albicans also multiplied in the kidneys of germfree rats; peak of the C. albicans infection in their kidneys occurred earlier than in those of conventional mice.