Division of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2009 Nov 24;4(11):e7967. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007967.
C. albicans triggers recurrent infections of the alimentary tract mucosa that result from biofilm growth. Although the ability of C. albicans to form a biofilm on abiotic surfaces has been well documented in recent years, no information exists on biofilms that form directly on mucosal surfaces. The objectives of this study were to characterize the structure and composition of Candida biofilms forming on the oral mucosa. We found that oral Candida biofilms consist of yeast, hyphae, and commensal bacteria, with keratin dispersed in the intercellular spaces. Neutrophils migrate through the oral mucosa and form nests within the biofilm mass. The cell wall polysaccharide beta-glucan is exposed during mucosal biofilm growth and is more uniformly present on the surface of biofilm organisms invading the oral mucosa. We conclude that C. albicans forms complex mucosal biofilms consisting of both commensal bacterial flora and host components. These discoveries are important since they can prompt a shift of focus for current research in investigating the role of Candida-bacterial interactions in the pathogenesis of mucosal infections as well as the role of beta-glucan mediated signaling in the host response.
白色念珠菌引发消化道黏膜的复发性感染，这是生物膜生长的结果。近年来，尽管白色念珠菌在非生物表面形成生物膜的能力已得到充分证实，但关于直接在黏膜表面形成的生物膜的信息尚不存在。本研究的目的是描述在口腔黏膜上形成的假丝酵母菌生物膜的结构和组成。我们发现，口腔假丝酵母菌生物膜由酵母、菌丝和共生细菌组成，角蛋白分散在细胞间隙中。中性粒细胞通过口腔黏膜迁移，并在生物膜团块内形成巢。在黏膜生物膜生长过程中暴露细胞壁多糖β-葡聚糖，并且在侵袭口腔黏膜的生物膜生物体表面上更均匀地存在。我们得出结论，白色念珠菌形成了复杂的黏膜生物膜，其中包括共生细菌菌群和宿主成分。这些发现很重要，因为它们可以促使当前研究的重点从调查念珠菌-细菌相互作用在黏膜感染发病机制中的作用转移到β-葡聚糖介导的信号在宿主反应中的作用。
