title: Virulence profile of strains of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii evaluated by experimental infection in BALB/c mice and correlation with exoenzyme activity.
abstract: To evaluate the virulence profile of strains of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii, 62 strains of this yeast were inoculated into BALB/c mice. It was found that 69 % of the strains were significantly more lethal to the mice and were recovered from a higher percentage (60 %) of the organs compared with the other 31 % of the strains, which were recovered from 35 % of organs tested. Those strains that provoked higher death rates were also recovered from the central nervous system at a higher rate (84 %) than the less lethal strains (32 %). This finding led to an investigation of the factors that enhanced the capacity for neurological infection and death of the animals. The results of this study suggested that environmental strains present different degrees of virulence. The correlation of exoenzyme production before and after inoculation and between the groups of mice indicated that exoenzyme production had no influence on differences in virulence among the strains studied.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eriques Gonçalves
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, UFRRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Francisco de Assis
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Baroni
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Flavio César
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Viani
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana da Silva
authors.initials: LDS
authors.lastname: Ruiz
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, UNIOESTE, Cascavel, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rinaldo Ferreira
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Gandra
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcos Ereno
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Auler
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Amanda Latércia Tranches
authors.initials: ALT
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Walderez
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gambale
authors.affiliation: Instituto Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Microbiologia, Seção de Micologia, Laboratório de Leveduras Patogênicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Professor Lineu Prestes, 1374, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudete Rodrigues
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Paula
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000382:microbiology; D003453:Cryptococcosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D003455:Cryptococcus neoformans / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D010740:Phospholipases / Q000378:metabolism*; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D010740:Phospholipases; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases