title: Biofilms and Antifungal Susceptibility Testing.
abstract: Yeasts and filamentous fungi both exist as single cells and hyphal forms, two morphologies used by most fungal organisms to create a complex multilayered biofilm structure. In this chapter we describe the most widely used assays for the determination of biofilm production and assessment of susceptibility of biofilms to antifungal agents or host phagocytes as various methods, the most frequent of which are staining, confocal laser scanning microscopy, quantification of extracellular DNA and protein associated with extracellular matrix and XTT metabolic reduction assay. Pathway-focused biofilm gene expression profiling is assessed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, 3rd Department of Pediatrics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hippokration Hospital, Konstantinoupoleos 49, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simitsopoulou
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, 3rd Department of Pediatrics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hippokration Hospital, Konstantinoupoleos 49, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chatzimoschou
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, 3rd Department of Pediatrics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hippokration Hospital, Konstantinoupoleos 49, 546 42, Thessaloniki, Greece. roilides@med.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roilides
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018441:Biofilms / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D002175:Candida / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins
keywords: Antifungal susceptibility test ing; Aspergillus; Biofilm; Candida; Extracellular matrix quantitation; Fungi