Costa Eduardo, Silva Sara, Tavaria Freni, Pintado Manuela
Universidade Católica Portuguesa/Porto, Rua Arquiteto Lobão Vital, Apartado 2511, 4202-401 Porto, Portugal.
Pathogens. 2014 Dec 11;3(4):908-19. doi: 10.3390/pathogens3040908.
Oral candidiasis is particularly evident, not only in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, but also in elderly people with xerostomy. In general, Candida is an opportunistic pathogen, causing infections in immunocompromised people and, in some cases, when the natural microbiota is altered. Chitosan, a natural derivative of chitin, is a polysaccharide that has been proven to possess a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity that encompasses action against fungi, yeast and bacteria. While recent studies have revealed a significant antibiofilm activity upon several microorganisms, including C. albicans, little is known regarding the impact of chitosan upon the adhesive process or mature biofilms. With that in mind, the purpose of this work was to evaluate, in vitro, the capability of chitosan to inhibit C. albicans growth and biofilm formation. The results obtained showed that chitosan is capable of inhibiting C. albicans planktonic growth (HMW, 1 mg/mL; LMW, 3 mg/mL). Regarding biofilm growth, chitosan inhibited C. albicans adhesion (ca. 95%), biofilm formation (percentages above 90%) and reduced mature biofilms by ca. 65% and dual species biofilms (C. albicans and S. mutans) by ca. 70%. These results display the potential of this molecule to be used as an effective anti-Candida agent capable of acting upon C. albicans infections.
口腔念珠菌病不仅在接受化疗的癌症患者中尤为明显，在患有口腔干燥症的老年人中也很常见。一般来说，念珠菌是一种机会致病菌，会在免疫功能低下的人群中引发感染，在某些情况下，当自然微生物群发生改变时也会引发感染。壳聚糖是几丁质的天然衍生物，是一种多糖，已被证明具有广泛的抗菌活性，包括对真菌、酵母和细菌的作用。虽然最近的研究揭示了壳聚糖对包括白色念珠菌在内的几种微生物具有显著的抗生物膜活性，但关于壳聚糖对黏附过程或成熟生物膜的影响却知之甚少。考虑到这一点，本研究的目的是在体外评估壳聚糖抑制白色念珠菌生长和生物膜形成的能力。所得结果表明，壳聚糖能够抑制白色念珠菌的浮游生长（高分子量壳聚糖，1 mg/mL；低分子量壳聚糖，3 mg/mL）。关于生物膜生长，壳聚糖抑制白色念珠菌的黏附（约95%）、生物膜形成（超过90%），并使成熟生物膜减少约65%，使双菌种生物膜（白色念珠菌和变形链球菌）减少约70%。这些结果显示了该分子作为一种能够对抗白色念珠菌感染的有效抗念珠菌剂的潜力。
