title: Antifungal activity of cerebrospinal fluid against Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida species.
abstract: The effect of human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on the growth of Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida species was tested in RPMI-1640. CSF alone was highly fungistatic for both yeasts and inhibited growth in a concentration-dependent manner. Unlike human serum, CSF did not collaborate with fluconazole for killing C. neoformans. Molecular sieve fractionation of CSF on a G-200 Sephadex column yielded a highly antifungal fraction with a molecular weight around 66 kDa. On SDS-PAGE this fraction migrated as a major and a minor band corresponding to the mobility of bovine serum albumin. These novel findings suggest that CSF contains a factor(s) that provides resistance to the growth of C. neoformans or Candida species.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseass, Department of Medicine, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA 95128-2699, USA. E.Brummer@Juno.com
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brummer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Drasin
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D002417:Cattle; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D015725:Fluconazole / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins; D015725:Fluconazole