Cell death mechanisms in the human opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans.
Difficulties arising during chemotherapy of Candida albicans necessitate novel chemotherapeutic strategies. Garlic extract and two of its constituents, diallyl disulphide and allyl alcohol, are potentially useful anti-candidal agents. Flow Cytometry has been used to measure the population distributions of apoptotic/necrotic cell death using annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide and oxidative stress dichlorodihydrofluorescein. Candicidal mechanisms may be due to programmed cell death induced by oxidative stress, mediated by the generation of reactive oxygen species or alternatively by the depletion of cellular thiols, which normally act as redox buffer systems for defence. We suggest that mechanisms that these anti-candidal agents have in common is the triggering some of the characteristics of apoptotic cell death.
Lemar
Katey M
KM
Cardiff School of Biosciences, BIOSI 1, Microbiology, PO Box 915, Cardiff CF10 3TL, Wales, UK. LemarKM@cardiff.ac.uk
Müller
Carsten T
CT
Plummer
Susan
S
Lloyd
David
D
D000332:Aerobiosis; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects*; D005737:Garlic; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000935:Antifungal Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts