Effect of Candida albicans on the Evolution of Experimental Tuberculosis

Abstract

IN 1954, one of us¹ showed that cultures of Candida albicans possess the ability to promote the growth of M. tuberculosis in vitro. This finding led to the development of the tracer technique for the detection of tubercle bacilli in pathological material². Recent studies³ have shown that the poly-saccharide fraction of Candida albicans is responsible for the M. tuberculosis growth-promoting effect of this yeast, and acts, in particular, on tubercle bacilli inhibited in their multiplication by exposure to streptomycin. In the present experiment 60 guinea pigs were given a subcutaneous inoculation in the right groin of 0.05 mgm. (wet weight) of a ten-day culture in ‘Tween’ albumen medium of M. tuberculosis (strain H ₃₇ Rv). Twenty of these were inoculated, at the same time and at the same site, with 1 mgm. (wet weight) of a 5-day Sabouraud culture of Candida albicans. Another group of 20 of these guinea pigs was inoculated subcutaneously with 1 ml. of a 5 per cent solution of the growth-promoting polysaccharide fraction of C. albicans. Twenty guinea pigs inoculated with tubercle bacilli alone were kept as ‘controls’. Another group of ‘controls’ was formed by 20 guinea pigs which were given a subcutaneous inoculation of 1 mgm. (wet weight) of the 5-day culture of C. albicans alone.