Experimental candidiasis in the hamster cheek pouch.
Sixty-four adult male BIO 87.20 hamsters were divided into four equal groups. Animals in three groups had 1 ml of a thick aqueous suspension of either Candida albicans (ATCC 10261), Candida albicans (UO1) or Candida tropicalis (3100, Puna Culture Collection) placed in each of their cheek pouches. The fourth group were controls. Four animals from each group were killed 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks following treatment. Specimens were removed from all left-cheek pouches and processed routinely for light microscopy. All animals treated with strain UO1 and 35 per cent of animals treated with either 10261 or 3100 strains exhibited changes. At 1 week, the epithelium had localized areas of neutrophilic leukocyte infiltration and some small discrete micro-abscesses. At 2 weeks, most micro-abscesses were larger. At 4 weeks, most micro-abscesses involved the more superficial epithelial layers. At 6 weeks, there were only a few superficial micro-abscesses. At 4 and 6 weeks, there were areas of thickened, often parakeratinized, stratum corneum. The connective tissue adjacent to the inflamed epithelium was infiltrated by varying numbers and types of chronic inflammatory cell. Hyphal invasion of the epithelium was not found. Thus the hamster cheek pouch is a suitable site for the study of experimental candidiasis. The occurrence of both an acute and chronic inflammatory response does not support the suggestion that the pouch is an immunologically-privileged site.
D000818:Animals; D002175:Candida / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D002180:Candidiasis, Oral / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002610:Cheek / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D006224:Cricetinae; D004848:Epithelium / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D014774:Virulence