title: Glycocalyx morphology of Candida albicans.
abstract: In this study, we examine new cytochemical aspects of the fimbria-mediated adhesion of the oral facultative pathogen Candida albicans. A wild-type strain of the yeast was grown with and without sucrose supplementation for 8 days. Osmium tetroxide, uranyl acetate (UA), ruthenium red (RR), and cupromeronic blue (CB) staining with critical electrolytic concentrations (CECs) and tannic acid-metal salt technique (TAMST) were applied to specimens separately or in combination for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination. Cytochemically, two types of fimbriae of C. albicans were distinguished: RR-positive fimbriae of polyanionic glycoconjugates and CB-positive fimbriae with a ceasing point of 0.3 M MgCl2 where no staining of sulfated carboxyl-rich and/or phospho-glycoconjugates occurred. Additionally, CB-positive intercellular fibers were observed, which seemed to be involved in intercellular adhesion. The present protocol enables, for the first time, a partial cytochemical differentiation between at least two kinds of yeast fimbriae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electron Microscopy, Light Microscopy and Digital Image Acquisition, Institute of Zoology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria. Wolf-Dietrich.Krautgartner@sbg.ac.at
authors.forename: Wolf Dietrich
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Krautgartner
authors.forename: Ljubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vitkov
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hannig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D019276:Glycocalyx / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins; D007211:Indoles; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D012430:Ruthenium Red; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins; D007211:Indoles; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D012430:Ruthenium Red; C015445:copper phthalocyanine