Quantitative evaluation of biofilm formation in yeast nitrogen base (YNB) broth and in bovine serum (BS) of Candida albicans strains isolated from mucosal infections.

Candida albicans is a major human fungal pathogen especially as an etiologic agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections. Moreover, C. albicans can be involved in the deep infections and recent evidence suggests that the majority of diseases produced by this pathogen are associated with biofilm growth. The aims of this study were to evaluate biofilm production ability of C. albicans strains isolated from different sources, and to evaluate the effect of serum for enhancement the growth of biofilm. The strains used in this study were obtained from three sources; 12 from feces of patients with gastrointestinal disturbances, 13 from the oral cavity of patients with oral candidiasis, and 16 from the vagina of patients with Candida vulvovaginitis (CVV). Polystyrene 96-well plates were used to grow biofilms and crystal violet (CV) staining method was used to evaluate the growth. There were no differences in biofilm growth expressed as CV absorbance between C. albicans strains from different origins neither in Yeast Nitrogen Base broth (YNB) or in bovine serum (BS) (ANOVA, P = 0.1648, P = 0.5106, respectively). In the BS, the biofilm production was greater than in YNB medium for all samples (ANOVA, P = 0.0003).