Effect of antifungal drugs on Cadida Albicans - Dissertation Example

INTRODUCTION: The polymorphic fungus Candida albicans is known to be among the most versatile opportunistic pathogens of humans. Several organ systems can be targeted by this fungal pathogen; though infection of the gastrointestinal tract is very common. This is due to the organism's preference for anaerobic growth conditions. (Dumitru, et al. 2004) In certain patients, accumulation of plaque biofilm in the mouth can also provide a reservoir for this organism, which if left unchecked can spread beyond the mouth and colonize other organs, leading to widespread, systemic infection.

(Yang et al. 2010) The Candida albicans fungal pathogen has been the subject of extensive experimentation. A great deal of information has been published on the cellular biological and molecular functions extant in the morphological development of Candida albicans. Much work historically has gone into the elucidation of the developmental anatomy of this organism; to cultivate an understanding of where and how that growth might be most vulnerable to environmental or pharmaceutical suppression.

Developmental Anatomy Researchers have gathered much data on the Stationary-phase, yeast-form cells of C. albicans, which can be encouraged to form hyphal germ tubes within a range of different growth media (Odds, 1985). During the process of germ tube development, new cell wall material is formed primarily at the hyphal apex where minimal lateral expansion occurs. Although yeast-form cells experience an additional component of non-specific wall creation that promotes lateral expansion of the cells towards an oval-like shape (Staebell & Soll, 1985).

The study of transitional stages between parallel-sided hyphal-forms and swollen yeast-type cells suggest that the regulation of lateral wall synthesis is a vital determining factor of future cell shape (Sevilla & Odds, 1986). Hypha-form cell walls possess a higher chitin content compared with those of yeast-type walls (Chattaway et al., 1968) and researchers have found that chitin synthase activity is greater in developing C. albicans germ tubes than with yeast-form cells (Chiew et al., 1980).

For hypha-type cells the overall cytoplasmic volume seems to remain constant compared with that of the parent yeast cells. The cytoplasm remains in proximity with the developing hyphae-apex, so the resulting hyphae will be composed of nucleated but vacuolated and therefore collapsible cell compartments behind their growing tips (Sevilla & Odds, 1986). Researchers propose the possibility that regulation of wall structure and thus cell shape is a phenotypic expression as opposed to the direct result of variabilities in gene transcription, as older theories suggested.

(Soll, 1984). It is clear that germ tube maturation will still proceed despite the presence of actinomycin D (Oliver et al., 1982) though this substance has been found to block the induction of normal enzymatic pathways (Sevilla & Odds, 1986), and maturation will proceed even in the face of progressively diminishing rate of protein synthesis (Torosantucci et al., 1984). Soll and colleagues have accounted for developmental milestones for C. albicans in terms of temporal and spatial controls of processes such as the emergence of novel cell wall material, formation of the septum, and cell wall synthesis (Soll, 1984), (Staebell & Soll, 1985).

Deviations have been found in hyphal diameters between cells grown based upon growth media, suggesting that