title: Gastric colonization with Candida albicans.
abstract: We adapted a rat model of gastrointestinal candidiasis for studies of in vivo gastric colonization with Candida albicans. Whereas normal rats cleared a single intragastric inoculum of 5 x 10(6) C. albicans from the stomach within 4 hours, rats pretreated with chloramphenicol and gentamicin achieved stable gastric colonization for at least 5 days after administration of this inoculum. We next used this model to study host modifications hypothesized to alter gastric colonization. A first group received dilute HCl 4 hr before yeast inoculation, to induce acute superficial gastric erosions; another group was treated with glucocorticosteroid beginning 12 days before yeast inoculation; and another group received famotidine therapy beginning 3 days before yeast inoculation, to neutralize gastric acidity. Recovery of yeasts from stomachs was significantly different from the control group only in rats treated with steroids; greater colonization was found in the rats so treated. In a final group of experiments, we attempted to inhibit in vivo gastric colonization with yeasts by preincubation of yeasts in vitro with a polyclonal antiserum raised in rabbits against heat-killed C. albicans. We were not able to demonstrate inhibition of gastric colonization by preincubation with this antiserum in this model system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Greenfield
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Joyce
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology; D002177:Candidiasis / Q000382:microbiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013272:Stomach Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D007106:Immune Sera