Drug-induced changes in the plasma membrane of Microsporum canis. A preliminary freeze--fracture study.

Commercial solutions of clotrimazole, tolnaftate and tolcyclate were tested for 12 h in cultures of Microsporum canis. They induced modifications in particle distribution, a blebbing of particle-free areas and the appearance of lamellar figures on the plasma membrane of fungus cells. The first two changes in the plasma membrane might be ascribed to a modification of the spectrin-like meshwork, while the third could be the result of a crystalline organization of membrane lipids.